Najeeb’s mother on Delhi HC order: ‘Disappointed, but have not lost hope’

Disappointed with the Delhi High Court accepting the CBI's request to file closure report in her son's disappearance, JNU student Najeeb Ahmed's mother Fatima Nafees on Monday said she has not lost hope about getting justice, and that she has full faith in the Indian Constitution.

Speaking to reporters here after the court's hearing, Nafees strongly criticised the "shoddy" investigation by, first the Delhi Police and then by the country's premier Central Bureau of Investigation, which failed to find her son even after two years of his disappearance.

"I am disappointed but have not lost hope. I would advise those who may be gloating over this (court's) decision because I will not relent," Nafees said.

"There is no clue about my son's whereabouts even after two years. Why has no action been taken against the Station House Officer of the Vasant Kunj North Police Station, who tried to mislead me when I first went there to file the complaint? Why do people become deaf and mute when it comes to Najeeb?

"I have full faith in the Indian Constitution... as our elders used to say that lie runs faster than the truth... however late, I will get justice," she said.

She also spoke against the government, specifically against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and accused it of pressuring the CBI, courts and the police for the shoddy work and adverse verdict.

"I am not scared of anyone. BJP will see its rout soon. This won't last long. I also appeal to all those mothers whose sons are persecuted and killed in encounters to come and stand by me, and I will stand by them," she said.

She also demanded resignation of CBI Director Alok Verma, criticising him for "bringing disgrace to the country".

The Delhi High Court had earlier in the day allowed the CBI plea seeking permission to file its closure report into the disappearance of Ahmed, an M.Sc. student at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), who was reported missing from Delhi in October 2016.

Earlier, on court's direction the case was transferred from Delhi Police to the CBI on Nafees' plea.

Nafees had sought a Special Investigation Team (SIT) -- comprising non-CBI officers -- to further probe her son's disappearance from a JNU hostel in the intervening night of October 14-15.

But the court declined the plea to form an SIT and monitor its work.

According to witnesses, Ahmed was beaten up by a mob of students on the night of October 15 in Mahi-Mandvi Hostel, where he lived. After the brawl, Ahmed disappeared the same night.

His mother, supported by students' union of JNU and other universities, will take out a protest march from Mandi House to Parliament Street on October 15 against the authorities' failure to locate Najeeb.