It has been nearly two months that Jawaharlal Nehru University student Najeeb Ahmad has been missing. From JNU to Jantar Mantar, protests have been held everywhere; award money has been announced, yet there is still no trace of the missing student.
Intervening in the matter, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday pulled up the police for dilly-dallying in the case. Expressing displeasure over the search operations being conducted, the court directed the police to “scan” the entire varsity by using sniffer dogs.
Without any further ado, the court has also asked the police to record the statements of some students who have been suspected of thrashing Najeeb a day before he disappeared.
This intervention comes as Najeeb’s mother, Fatima Nafees, knocked the doors of the court after facing dejection from all quarters in her tryst to find her son who has been missing since the intervening night of October 14-15.
The lawyer for Najeeb’s mother has maintained that the police is not paying due attention to the possibility of him being abducted. The lawyer also claimed that the police is only working on the theory that something is mentally wrong with the student as he simply walked out of the campus.
An Old ID card of the missing JNU Phd Scholar Najeeb
The four students suspected of beating up Najeeb would be put to lie-detector tests to get leads or clues about his disappearance.
It all began on October 14 when a fight that took place in room number 106 at the Mahi Mandavi hostel. While some claim Ahmad slapped ABVP candidate Vikrant who is contesting for the post of mess secretary. Others say, Najeeb was assaulted by ABVP members.
“Vikrant was contesting elections for the post of mess-secretary of Mahi Mandavi hostel and went to Najeeb’s room seeking support. When he handed over the pamphlet to Najeeb, the latter slapped him. When he asked the reason, he got slapped again. He even questioned the sacred thread worn by the candidate on his hand. When Mukesh and Ankit tried to intervene, Najeeb pushed them and they fell down,” ABVP member Vijay Kumar said.
Disciplinary action was taken and Najeeb was held guilty of slapping Vikrant and was ordered to vacate the hostel by October 21. “Even Najeeb admitted that he had committed a mistake.”
In a notice issued on Najeeb’s disappearance on October 17, the JNU administration had mentioned him as the ‘accused’ who was involved in a case of violence at the hostel. The protesting students claim this to be a half-baked truth.
Two months have already passed. How many more days to go till any trace of Najeeb will be found? Will the court’s intervention finally give a headway to the case? We certainly hope so.
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