Delhi High Court Allows Jailed MP Engineer Rashid To Visit Ailing Father At AIIMS Under Police Escort

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday modified its earlier order granting one-week interim bail to jailed Jammu and Kashmir MP Engineer Rashid to visit his ailing father.

A division bench comprising Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Madhu Jain permitted Rashid to meet his father from 8 AM to 8 PM daily till May 10 at AIIMS, New Delhi, where he is admitted.

For context, on April 28, the Court had granted interim bail to Rashid for a week. Later, the MP filed an application seeking modification of the order after his father was shifted to AIIMS, New Delhi from Srinagar. His interim bail had confined him to Srinagar for the duration of one week.

Today, Senior Advocate N Hariharan appeared for Rashid and furnished a local address of a property which was taken on rent.

However, the Court said that it cannot start verification of the address at this stage, especially when the same was not of any of his relatives or anyone known to him. It thus permitted him to visit his father daily, but from jail.

“Under these circumstances, since the appellant's father is already shifted to AIIMS, Delhi, and the order passed on April 28 was for allowing the appellant to spend time with this father, the said order is modified to the extent that the appellant shall be permitted to meet his father from 8 AM to 8 PM daily till May 10,” the Court said.

It added that Rashid shall be accompanied by at least two policemen in plain clothes who shall stand outside the ward.

The Bench also said that the other conditions imposed on Rashid in the earlier order shall continue and that after the time elapses, he will continue to be lodged in jail.

Rashid was elected from the Baramulla constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and has been lodged in Tihar Jail since 2019 after the NIA arrested him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror-funding case.

His regular bail was rejected by the trial court on March 21, 2025. In the meantime, he filed an interim bail plea before the trial court on the ground that his father is suffering from various health ailments. The plea was rejected on April 24 on the ground that Rashid is alleged to have influenced witnesses, including one protected witness. Rashid then filed an appeal against rejection of his interim bail.

Title: Abdul Rashid Sheikh v. NIA