JNU students take out candlelight march against alleged political shielding of missing Najeeb Ahmed case

JNU students on Sunday night took out a candlelight march on the campus in protest against alleged “political shielding” of students involved in a scuffle with missing M.Sc student Najeeb Ahmed.

The protest march is against “shameless tokenism” in the name of punishment against Najeeb’s assaulters, said JNU Students Union (JNUSU) president Mohit Pandey.

Four students involved in the scuffle at Mahi-Mandvi hostel of JNU on October 14 night, that allegedly led to the mysterious disappearance of Najeeb, have been identified and their immediate transfer from the hostel has been recommended in a Proctorial Board enquiry by the university administration.

“What is more shameful and disgusting, that the JNU admin, after two months of Najeeb’s disappearance, has shown heights of tokenism in the name of punishment against Najeeb’s assaulters,” JNUSU said in a statement.

The march by students started from Ganga dhaba. Najeeb had gone missing on October 15 following the scuffle allegedly with ABVP members the night before.

Delhi Police is trying to trace Najeeb but it has not been able to make any breakthrough even though a reward of Rs 10 lakh was announced by it for any information about him.

The case was initially handled by a special investigation team of south Delhi Police but later handed over to the force’s Crime Branch. The mysterious disappearance and failure of police to trace him has led to protests by JNU students and various political outfits.

The mother and sister of the missing student also participated in these protests with several political leaders including Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal slamming police for not being able to trace him.