Responding to a call made by Fatima Nafees, mother of Jawaharlal Nehru University student Najeeb Ahmed who went missing three years ago, students and several organisations gathered at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday to question the Home Ministry on why they have not been able to trace him yet.
Ms. Nafees said the investigating agencies were not thorough in their probe. “The agencies said they have done everything but they only followed what the court asked them to do. I just want my son back,” she said, adding that for three years, her appeal to the government has remained the same.
She was joined by Kavitha Lankesh, sister of slain journalist Gauri Lankesh and Shaista Parveen, wife of Tabrez Ansari. “As a mother of a 15-year-old child, I can understand the pain Fatima must be going through. Gauri was shot dead because she wanted a secular nation. I am here to express solidarity for a democratic nation where nobody should be scared,” Ms. Lankesh said. Author Arundhati Roy, who was also present at the gathering, warned the students of the “growing fascism” in the country. “Fascism has destroyed the media, universities, our economy, our investigating agencies and even our judiciary to some extent. But fascism cannot win...we need to take lessons from history and learn to fight fascism.”
Former JNU student Umar Khalid said those who “attacked” Najeeb the night before his disappearance are roaming freely.
Najeeb had gone missing from JNU’s Mahi-Mandvi hostel on October 15, 2016, following a scuffle the previous night with a few students allegedly affiliated to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. The case was initially being probed by the police but was later transferred to the CBI, which filed a closure report.
