Jailed Engineer Rashid, Amritpal to take oath as LS members today

Jailed radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh and Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid are set to take oath as Lok Sabha members on Friday, subject to some conditions in their parole orders. While Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, is in Delhi’s Tihar jail in a terror funding case registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Singh is lodged in a prison in Assam’s Dibrugarh district for offences under the National Security Act.Singh, 31, and Rashid, 56, won the recent Lok Sabha elections from Khadoor Sahib in Punjab and Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir, respectively, as Independents while being incarcerated.They could not take oath as members of the 18th Lok Sabha on June 24 and 25 along with the other winning candidates.For taking oath, Rashid has been granted a two-hour custody parole, excluding the travel time from Tihar to Parliament, and Singh a four-day custody parole, beginning July 5, as he will be flown in from Assam to Delhi and back.During their parole periods, they can neither speak to or address the media on any issue or make any statements. Their family members also cannot make a statement in any form of media, according to their respective orders.