Bengaluru: She has not seen her son in the last 27 months after he went missing from his hostel - Mahi Mandavi in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
No one has seen him either. “Kisi ke paas koi jawab nahi hai ki mera beta kahan gaya? Na Dilli police ke paas na CBI ke paas (nobody has an answer regarding where my son has gone. Neither the Delhi police, nor the CBI). I will file a protest petition against CBI’s closure report,” said an anguished Fatima Nafees - mother of Najeeb Ahmed, who went missing from his hostel on October 15, 2016, after he was reportedly beaten up by a group of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists, who had reportedly approached Najeeb and his roommate Qasim for votes in the forthcoming elections.
Fatima was In Bengaluru to attend ‘Gauri Day’ in memory of the late editor-activist Gauri Lankesh on Tuesday, which was organised by the Gauri Memorial Trust. A documentary — Ammi produced by Pedestrian Pictures on Najeeb was filmed during the event.
‘A mother never gets tired’
Earlier in the day Fatima spoke to Deccan Chronicle regarding Najeeb and her anguished wait for her missing son.
CBI in October last year filed a closure report in the court after submitting that they had investigated the case from every angle and found no offence against him.
“Delhi police crime branch and CBI are premier investigating agencies. Officers from the agencies told me that they have traced people even five years later after they went missing but the CBI closed the case in less than two years from the time the case was handed over to them? They were keen to close the case because the accused are ABVP students. Zulm aur zyadati Ki hadd ho gayi (they have crossed the limits of torture and injustice),” alleged Fatima.
She said that since her son was a student of JNU, it should be a case of a missing student. Is the University not answerable? He chose JNU because of its distinctive identity in the field of education. “Kya kya khwab dekhey hongey ussney (what all he must have dreamt to study in JNU?),” she added.
Recalling the last time she spoke to Najeeb was after the incident; the day, when he went missing. Fatima said she got a call from him and he said “Ammi bus aap aa jao (mother please come,”.
I rushed from Badaun and reached Delhi. But he was not in his hostel room. “If he has left the hostel somebody must have seen him. He was abducted and the case has been hushed up,” said Fatima.
“I was told that he was beaten up when he questioned some ABVP students regarding the kalava (religious thread tied to the wrist). This is ridiculous. We are from Badaun in Western UP and we know about kalava. Some Muslims also tie a religious thread and Najeeb is familiar with it. Why should he object to someone wearing a kalava and even if he had, why was he so brutally beaten up? Is the University administration not responsible for what happens inside the campus?” Fatima asked.
She holds politicians, especially the BJP government at the Centre for failing to do justice to her son. “Najeeb would have got justice if he was not a Muslim. I met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. She has helped so many stranded Indians abroad, but she couldn’t help me even though my son went missing from Delhi. Politicians from other parties were empathetic, but they are busy people. I have the support of the ordinary people and the students,” said Fatima.
Najeeb, she said was a very calm, introverted and intelligent boy. “Out of my four children, he was the most courageous of the lot,” she concluded, while adding that her struggle will continue till she found her son. “Ek maa nahi thakegi (a mother will never get tired).”
