“We have lost all faith in the university administration,” said Fatima, the mother of JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, who has been missing for 13 days.
Addressing the media on Thursday, Najeeb’s family said the JNU administration was devoid of humanity as it took Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar four days to meet them, despite Najeeb’s mother Fatima camping outside the Administration Block. “We want to ask the V-C. If his son or daughter had been missing for even a day, would he not be worried? It has been 13 days, and you have not even acknowledged the fact that Najeeb was beaten the night before he went missing, or taken any disciplinary measures against those involved,” said Sadaf, Najeeb’s sister.
Nadeem, Najeeb’s cousin, said that he wanted to ask all parents if we “should stop sending our children to study and live in hostels? He also urged them to come out and pressurise the university administration and the Delhi Police into finding Najeeb.
He added that the JNU V-C, who hadn’t met Fatima till now, called up just before the press conference and asked if he could speak to her. “I refused to let them speak to her and said that we were going to tell the world how the JNU administration had treated a mother who cannot find her son.”
‘Who are they trying to shield?’
Sadaf added that in case of a scuffle at any school, college or university, it is only natural that both parties involved are interrogated. But here, they are omitting eyewitness accounts and details from that night. “I do not know who they are trying to shield. The administration is supposed to be the guardian of every student,” she added.
Administration reacts
Reacting to the family’s allegations, the university said that the JNU V-C and top officials had met the family on October 18, three days after Najeeb went missing. They said that they tried to meet them again on Thursday to apprise them of their efforts to trace Najeeb.
The JNUSU, meanwhile, has demanded that the police should first rule out Najeeb’s presence on the JNU campus by searching the jungles. They have also asked that those accused of assaulting Ahmed be questioned and arrested immediately, and their phone records examined. The JNUSU has called for a protest outside the Delhi Police headquarters on Friday afternoon.
