A missing student, cries for justice, an enduring mystery

Najeeb Ahmed was a JNU student, who went missing from his hostel on October 15, 2016. Having found no clues, the agencies shut the case in 2018. But, his family is still looking for answers

- Sadia Akhtar and Sanjeev K Jha

For most parents, the prospect of their child enrolling in one of India's best universities would be a matter of joy. For Fatima Nafees, however, it is a source of unending regret. For the last seven years, the 54-year-old has woken up every day with the same thought. "I wish I had not accepted my son's decision to study at JNU... Maybe he would have still been with us," she said, her voice trailing off.

Her son, the introverted Najeeb Ahmed, went missing from the university's MahiMandvi hostel on October 15, 2016, less than three months after enrolling in the M. Sc. (Biotechnology) course. He was only 27.

His disappearance triggered a storm. The JNU students' uni (JNUSU) and students alleged that members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) beat him up. In a 25-point summary, the varsity said that he had slapped another student, who had come to his room to campaign.

"There is no evidence to back any of these allegations," said investigators from the Delhi Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The former investigated the case for seven months, before the federal agency took over in May 2017.

In October 2018, the agency closed the case with one final remark - "could not be traced." For Najeeb's mother, however, closing is not an option.

"I never switch off my phone. I have been waiting for him and cannot miss any call that might lead me to him. I have not changed my number in all these years either," she said, over the phone from her home in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun.

The origins