Delhi court grants interim bail to Engineer Rashid amid allegations of BJP’s electoral manipulation in IIOJK
New Delhi: A Delhi court has granted interim bail to Engineer Rashid, a parliamentarian from Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, in connection with a 2017 case.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the interim bail, valid until October 2, allows Rashid to campaign in the upcoming assembly elections in IIOJK.
Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh issued the bail, enabling Rashid to campaign despite his ongoing legal issues. Rashid, who recently won the Baramulla seat by defeating National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, had previously been granted custody parole on July 5 to take the oath as a Lok Sabha member.
Rashid has been incarcerated since 2019, following his arrest by the India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He faces allegations of funding pro-freedom activists in the occupied territory and is currently held in Tihar Jail. The court is scheduled to rule on his regular bail application tomorrow.
The decision to grant interim bail to Rashid has sparked debate, especially given that many pro-freedom leaders, including APHC Chairman Masarrat Aalam Butt, Shabbir Shah,Yasin Malik, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Aasiya Andrabi, Pir Saifullah, Ayaz Akbar, Mehrajdin Kalwal, Fahmeeda Sofi, Nahida Nasreen, and others, remain imprisoned under similar fake charges.
Kashmir observers suggest that the bail may be part of a broader strategy by the BJP-led Indian government to fragment the vote in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley and prevent any single party from securing a majority. This theory is supported by the candidacy of another jailed Kashmiri leader, Sarjan Barkati, and the rise of numerous independent candidates, which many view as a tactic to dilute votes in the Valley.
Prominent Kashmiri politicians, including Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, have accused Rashid and other independent candidates of being BJP proxies, stating that their candidacies are strategically orchestrated to undermine the Muslim majority region’s electoral process. Engineer Rashid’s bail has further fueled these concerns.
