The Patiala House Court has granted custody parole to Baramulla MP Engineer Abdul Rashid Sheikh, allowing him to attend the upcoming Budget Session of Parliament. Rashid, currently held in Tihar Jail in a terror funding case, will be able to participate in the Lok Sabha’s Budget Session starting from January 28 while remaining in custody. The court specified that the responsibility for Rashid’s travel expenses during his custody parole will depend on the decision of his pending appeal before the Delhi High Court.
In a previous ruling in November 2025, the Delhi High Court had issued a split judgment on Rashid’s request to modify the condition requiring him to pay around Rs 4 lakh for travel and deployment costs when visiting Parliament. While Justice Vivek Chaudhary rejected the plea, Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani approved it, leading to the matter being referred to Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya for administrative guidance. Rashid’s counsel argued that the imposition of daily custodial travel costs, including police salaries, unfairly restricted an elected MP from fulfilling his constituency duties, contending that such costs exceeded the scope of the Delhi Prison Rules.
On the other hand, the Delhi Police justified the cost calculation, stating that it encompassed deployment charges, logistics, and security arrangements essential for escorting an undertrial MP to Parliament. Engineer Rashid, the leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Awami Ittehad Party (AIP), had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Tihar Jail and secured a significant victory over National Conference Vice-President and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah by a margin of over two lakh votes. Currently, Rashid, the incumbent MP from Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla, is embroiled in a terror funding case and remains in judicial custody.
