His books are stacked neatly in a wall-mounted wooden cabinet in the bedroom. Above the study table next to his bed, hangs his Invertis University identity card for B.Sc from 2013-2016. Fatima Nafees dusts each item every single day in anticipation of the return of her son, ‘JNU boy’ Najeeb Ahmed.
Najeeb disappeared without a trace from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi on October 15, 2016.
Residents of the narrow streets of Vaidon Tola, with a few shops on each side and colourful walls, talk in hushed voices when they see an unfamiliar car with unfamiliar faces enter the area on a sunny morning. However, the presence of media in the streets where Najeeb grew up does not surprise them any more.
Asked for directions to Najeeb’s home, they promptly point towards the residence of the ‘JNU wala bachcha ’.
“Everyone here knows about him. We read about him regularly. He has been abducted but I think he will be found. I hope he hasn’t been killed,” says Anees Qadri, a resident who has come to Badaun for a few days from Mumbai, where he works as a cleaner at Haji Ali.
Birthday is on October 18
Sitting on a wooden sofa in their two-bedroom house, the very house Najeeb was born in, 48-year-old Ms. Nafees said October 5 marked “ ek saal, ek din [one year and a day] according to the Islamic calendar” since he went missing.
Najeeb Ahmed
“His birthday is on October 18. He will turn 28 this year,” she says with a smile.
The past year has been tough on the family but it has also taught them a lesson or two.
“We learnt a lot. All our relatives turned their back on us during this difficult year. In fact, our neighbours were more helpful and stood by us,” says Ms. Nafees, even as a tear tries to trickle down her cheek.
Wiping it off quickly, she says the relatives live close by but don’t bother calling or visiting them.
Nonetheless, a certain sense of calm prevails over the house that has for the past year seen a mother cry incessantly, a father unable to walk, and siblings struggle to focus on their careers. After fighting for months, and still doing so, the family is finally getting its life back on track.
Father’s injuries
Najeeb’s 60-year-old father Nafees Ahmed, a lean man with a slightly stooped back, walks around the house in a brown tehmat and white shirt. A carpenter by profession, he only prefers the company of his tools and his family. A few minutes after exchanging greetings, the only communication from his end, he slips away into the tiny courtyard for namaz.
In 2009, Mr. Ahmed fell from the fourth floor of a building in Mumbai and was bedridden for a few months due to several fractures. He has been working on and off ever since, mostly operating out of his residence.
“He hired a few boys to do regular work and helps them when required. He mostly keeps busy doing something or the other at home,” says Mujeeb Ahmed, who is a year younger than Najeeb.
Clad in a kurta-pyjama , the bespectacled young man adds that their father’s work contributes little towards household expenses. Most expenses, including the education of Najeeb’s three siblings, travelling for protests across the country, court proceedings and day-to-day needs, are met from the money received after selling a piece of land.
“We bought the land when my daughter was little. We had bought it for her future. But we had to sell it a little over a year ago,” said Ms. Nafees.
During the initial months after Najeeb went missing, Mujeeb recalls seeing his father cry, something he had not witnessed earlier, while lying in bed and staring at the walls.
Missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed's mother during a protest. File Photo
“He is a heart patient. We prefer not to involve him,” says Mujeeb.
Not only does Mr. Ahmed stay away from interacting with strangers, a protective Mujeeb makes sure his 17-year-old sister also stays away.
The teenager had to write her board exams in March 2017 but Najeeb’s disappearance left her disturbed.
“She couldn’t write the exams in March. The atmosphere in the house was extremely disturbing for her. She managed to write the exams a few months later and is now pursuing graduation in Bachelors of Science away from home and out of Badaun,” says Mujeeb, refusing to reveal more.
She is also preparing for the medical entrance examination, just like Najeeb did for five years after Class XII. He wanted to become a doctor, the family says, but failed to clear the exam. Eventually the baton was passed on to their sister, who is relatively brighter academically than her siblings, they claim.
“I had gone to check Najeeb bhai ’s medical entrance exam results twice. He missed the minimum by 10 and 8 marks,” says Mujeeb, stressing that “Najeeb bhai really wanted to become a doctor”.
Job hunt
Five days after Najeeb went missing, Mujeeb, who has an M.Tech post-graduate degree, was supposed to submit documents at a Rajasthan-based company. However, that never materialised due to his brother’s sudden disappearance. A job hunt that began a few months later is yet to bear fruit.
“I have been appearing for interviews. I gave one interview in Jaipur two months ago and another one in Dhanbad in August. Nothing has worked out so far but I will keep trying,” says Mujeeb.
On whether Najeeb’s disappearance has affected his job prospects, Mujeeb says he ensures the matter is not brought up in front of potential employers.
“I try not to talk about his disappearance during interviews. They may feel I am trying to gain sympathy. It may also have a negative impact. The only time I informed a company about Najeeb bhai ’s disappearance was when I had to submit the documents in October 2016,” he says.
Mujeeb had informed his potential employers about his involvement in the case and requested them for another chance.
NEW DELHI, 24/10/2016: Police put barricades during a protest over missing JNU student, Najeeb Ahmed, by the members of JNUSU and other students' organisations at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Monday. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
No photograph
“But nothing has come of it so far,” says Mujeeb, adding that he prefers not to be photographed as he is apprehensive of the consequences it may have on his future job prospects.
Haseeb, their 23-year-old brother, is fast asleep in the other room and prefers not to be disturbed. The family says he is preparing for higher studies after completing his BTech from a private university in Bareilly this year.
Haseeb, who was quite close to Najeeb, is now studying for Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE).
“He managed to cope after the incident because his studies kept him busy. He stayed in Bareilly during exams, sometimes for two months at a stretch,” says Ms. Nafees.
The siblings seem to share a good relationship. Mujeeb laughs quietly as their mother says she was always accused of favouring Najeeb.
Ms. Nafees recalls how little Mujeeb would get offended as he went to a government school while Najeeb went to a private one.
“I finally got a chance to study in a private school when I was in Class VI but I couldn’t cope. I went back but Najeeb bhai always did well in school. Nothing was difficult for him,” Mujeeb recalls.
As Mujeeb takes a walk down the memory lane, Ms. Nafees digs out a yellow plastic bag from a trunk. It has hundreds of photographs of the family. She goes through each one of them and points to the ones with little Najeeb in them.
“This one is from the time when we had gone to Mumbai. This one was taken in Nainital, and this was in Kashipur while we were visiting a relative. Look at Najeeb in his father’s arms,” her eyes light up with memories.
Sharing another memory of her ‘favourite’ son, Ms. Nafees says Najeeb loves tandoori rotis.
She remembers telling him “ tumhari tandoor wali se shaadi kara dungi [I’ll get you married to a woman who owns a tandoor ]”.
The neighbours who watched Najeeb grow up are an integral part of the Ahmed family’s life, more so over the past year.
Anjum baji , who lives two houses away, is said to be Najeeb’s favourite aunt. The short and slender woman, her head covered with a dupatta , sits cross-legged in her house. She says Najeeb was a quiet child and was always lost in books.
“Najeeb and my children grew up together. Whenever I made biryani , he would come over to eat. He never spoke ill of anyone and was a well-behaved child,” says the 55-year-old Anjum baji .
Standing next to Anjum baji is her husband Ismail Hasan. A tailor by profession, he recalls the last time he saw Najeeb.
“We were outside the masjid when he was leaving for Delhi from Badaun on October 13, 2016, after Muharram. He told me he was going back to college. Even at this age, the boy wore the clothes I stitched for him,” he recalls.
Shakeel Ahmad, who has been delivering milk at the Ahmed residence for years, stands on the steps leading to the house. He remembers Najeeb as a well-mannered young man. “Hamesha poochte the mujhse, Shakeel bhai kaise hain aap? [He always asked how I was doing?],” he recalls.
As the conversation draws to a close, Ms. Nafees says she is positive that Najeeb will come home soon. That’s all she wants and prays for.
“If I could, I would let the culprits go scot-free just so I can have my son back. I don’t want anything else,” she says.
Her hope is shared by the residents of Vaidon Tola.
Just as the car starts to pull out of the lane, they say, “ Mil jaega Najeeb [Najeeb will be found]”.
Here is a timeline of events since Najeeb's disappearance:
| October 14, 2016 | Najeeb Ahmed (27) allegedly gets into a scuffle with a bunch of ABVP students |
| October 15, 2016 | Najeeb leaves the JNU campus in an autorickshaw. Among other things he left behind in his Mahi-Mandvi hostel room are his mobile phone and wallet. When he fails to return, a missing complaint is filed |
| October 16, 2016 | A case is registered at Vasant Kunj (north) police station. A reward of ₹50,000 is announced for information on Najeeb |
| October 20, 2016 | The south district police constitute a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to trace Najeeb |
| November 11, 2016 | The Crime Branch takes over the probe |
| November 26, 2016 | Najeeb's mother Fatima Nafees moves the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the government and the police to produce him before the court |
| January 23, 2017 | The Delhi Police Crime Branch informs the High Court that it could not carry out lie detector tests on the nine students as they did not turn up despite being served multiple notices. The Delhi Police increase reward for information on Najeeb to ₹10 lakh |
| May 16, 2017 | High Court transfers investigation into Najeeb’s disappearance to the CBI |
