Delhi HC Grants Engineer Rashid Interim Bail Until 2 June to Perform Father's Last Rites in Srinagar

The Division Bench allowed the MP and NIA accused to travel to Srinagar under police escort to conduct burial and customary mourning ceremonies after his father died at AIIMS on 18 May 2026.

A Division Bench of the High Court of Delhi, comprising Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Madhu Jain, on 18 May 2026 granted interim bail to Abdul Rashid Sheikh, widely known as Engineer Rashid, until 2 June 2026. The order was passed on an urgent application filed under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, after the Appellant's father passed away in the intervening night of 17 and 18 May 2026 at 00:10 AM at AIIMS, New Delhi. Sheikh, a Member of Parliament elected from the Baramulla constituency in Jammu and Kashmir in 2024, is Accused No. 18 in NIA Case No. 2/2018, titled State v. Hafeez Mohd. Saeed & Ors., pending trial before the Additional Sessions Judge – 03, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi.

The Proceedings Before the High Court

The main appeal, CRL.A. 672/2025, was filed by Sheikh challenging the rejection of his regular bail application by the Trial Court on 21 March 2025. That appeal remains pending.

While the main appeal was pending, Sheikh moved the Trial Court for interim bail on the ground that his father was suffering from various ailments. The Trial Court rejected that application on 24 April 2026. Sheikh then filed a separate appeal, CRL.A. 419/2026, challenging that rejection. On 28 April 2026, the Division Bench heard both appeals together and granted interim bail for one week, permitting Sheikh to travel to Srinagar to be with his ailing father, subject to detailed conditions including a personal bond of Rs. 50,000 with a surety of the like amount and continuous escort by at least two plain-clothes police officials.

That order was subsequently modified on 5 May 2026 in CRL.A. 419/2026. By then, Sheikh's father had been shifted to AIIMS, Delhi. The Court amended the earlier order to allow Sheikh to visit his father at AIIMS from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM daily until 10 May 2026, after which he was to return to jail each evening. CRL.A. 419/2026 was accordingly disposed of.

The present application in CRL.A. 672/2025 was then mentioned urgently before the Board on 18 May 2026, the morning after Sheikh's father died.

The Prayer and the NIA's Position

Sheikh's counsel sought interim bail to allow him to perform a series of customary rites following his father's death. The application listed the ceremonies as: funeral prayers on the evening of 18 May 2026; burial on the night of 18 May 2026; a four-day mourning period from 18 to 21 May 2026; the Rasm-e-Chaharum (fourth-day ceremony) on 21 May 2026; seventh-day prayers on 24 May 2026; observance of the first Eid-ul-Adha after the demise from 27 to 29 May 2026; an eleventh-day ceremony on 28 May 2026; a fifteenth-day ceremony on 1 June 2026; and the fortieth-day ceremony (Chahalisvan) on 26 June 2026.

Mr. Akshai Malik, Special Public Prosecutor for the NIA, confirmed to the Court that the factum of the death of Sheikh's father had been verified. The NIA did not contest the grant of interim bail on this occasion.

The Court's Reasoning and Conditions Imposed

The Court noted that Sheikh had already been in custody for more than six years and eight months, barring 48 days when he was out on interim bail. He had previously been permitted to file his nomination, campaign, and attend Parliament sessions on custody parole. The personal bond and surety furnished pursuant to the order dated 28 April 2026 were held to remain applicable, so no fresh bond was required.

The Court granted interim bail until 2 June 2026 and imposed the following conditions:

• Sheikh shall be accompanied at all times by at least two plain-clothes police officials from the moment he leaves jail until he returns from Srinagar. The Jail Superintendent is at liberty to nominate those officials.
• Sheikh shall stay only at two specified residential addresses: House No. 345, Jawahar Nagar, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir; and House No. 11, Mawar Payeen, Tehsil Qalamabad, Langate, District Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir.
• For the purpose of customary rites, he may visit the burial ground or any place of worship. He shall not move to any other venue.
• Any meeting with persons other than immediate family members, while at either residence, shall take place only in the presence of two police officials.
• Sheikh shall use only one mobile number, which must be shared with the Investigating Officer of the NIA and kept switched on at all times. Any change in number must be intimated.
• He shall not, directly or indirectly, contact witnesses or their family members.
• He shall not indulge in any criminal or unlawful activity; any such activity will result in automatic cancellation of the interim bail.
• He shall not leave the country without prior permission of the Court.
• Immediately upon expiry of the bail period, he shall surrender before the concerned Jail Superintendent and be brought back to Tihar Jail, Delhi.

Directions for Immediate Release

Given the urgency, the funeral prayers were scheduled for the evening of 18 May 2026 itself, the Court directed that the order be issued dasti under the signature of the Court Master. The Joint Registrar (Appellate) was directed to inform the concerned Jail Superintendent immediately so that Sheikh could fly to Srinagar on the same day. The order was also directed to be communicated through the Faster Cell to the Jail Superintendent and uploaded on the Court's website forthwith.

The Court clarified that the observations made by the Trial Court in the impugned order dated 24 April 2026 shall not affect the adjudication of the main appeal or any other proceedings.

Outcome

The application CRL.M (BAIL) 1035/2026 was allowed and disposed of. Interim bail was granted to Abdul Rashid Sheikh until 2 June 2026 on the conditions set out above. The main appeal, CRL.A. 672/2025, challenging the rejection of regular bail, remains pending and is listed for hearing on 7 July 2026.