Najeeb Ahmed, a 26-year-old MSc student of biotechnology went missing from his Mahi-Mandvi hostel the day he had a fight with students allegedly affiliated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) where he was beaten and dragged out of his room and his life was threatened. Last year, on October 15, 2018, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a closure report of the two-year-old search for the missing Najeeb.
The CBI stated that all aspects were looked into but it could not find any trace of an offense. We the students of JNU want to ask what the CBI has done in all these years, that now it wants to shut this case? Why haven’t the people who gave death threats to Najeeb on October 14 been arrested till date? It was said that the CBI carried out a biased investigation and that the objective was to shield those who assaulted Najeeb before he went missing.
As we can clearly see, since the onset of the BJP government, minorities, people from Dalit communities are constantly being attacked in all parts of the country. Everywhere we hear about incidents of mob lynching which have become a regular affair in our country, and to date, there has been no concrete action taken by the government against these barbaric acts.
Minorities, people from Dalit communities, and people from all marginalised sections living in our country have been affected throughout. This is one of the major ways to wreck the social fabric and inclusiveness of our nation. Najeeb, belonging to a minority community, was also falsely framed as having joined ISIS. Such false allegations were faced by Najeeb’s Ammi (mother), Fatima Nafees, who was only concerned with finding her son.
We can see the complete failure of the Delhi Police and the CBI who have failed Najeeb’s Ammi, and could not even give her a single clue regarding her child. It’s been three long years since Najeeb’s Ammi has been continuously struggling to find her son and take him home.
The students of JNU have always been in solidarity with Ammi, and have held several protests and demonstrations in the same regard. But, the government has failed her and all of us. The Delhi Police or the CBI can close the case or forget the missing Najeeb, but we, the students of JNU, will not let anyone forget our friend Najeeb, and would try to continue the search till we find our friend and he is able to meet his family.
On October 15, 2019, Fatima Nafees has given a call for a nationwide protest to ask our Home Minister Amit Shah ‘Where Is Najeeb?’. It will be held at Jantar Mantar, starting at 3 pm. We must unite and stand in complete solidarity with Najeeb’s Ammi.