Fatima Nafess, mother of a JNU student who was reported missing after a clash on campus in 2016 shared a stage with relatives of victims of murders linked to Hindutva groups on Tuesday.At a public meeting to mark the third anniversary of the day her son Najeeb Ahmed was reported missing after a clash with supporters of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Fatima Nafis demanded justice. Along with Nafis was, Kavitha Lankesh, sister of slain journalist Gauri Lankesh and the wife of Jharkhand mob violence victim Tabrez Ansari.

At the meeting on Jantar Mantar road, Nafis said: “I am fortunate that all of you, my children, have done your duty to stand with me and say that I am not alone. This is a slap in the face of the Sanghis. The only thing the government is scared of are the youths who will be the leaders of tomorrow. Those who call themselves nationalists are selling airports and the railways and destroying institutions. The only people stopping them are the youths.”

Last year, the CBI closed its investigation into the disappearance of Najeeb. Fatima Nafees has however challenged this through a protest petition. BSP MP Danish Ali, author Arundhati Roy, senior Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan, St. Stephen’s College professor Nandita Narain and several student representatives spoke in solidarity with the victims.

Kavitha, sister of Gauri Lankesh who was shot dead in 2017, said: “When (Narendra) Dabholkar was shot dead (in 2013) and (Govind) Pansare was killed (in 2015), I did not care. When (MM) Kalburgi was killed (in 2015) closer to home, it still did not sink in. Finally, when my sister was shot at our doorstep, I understood what fascism and the Hindu Rashtra is.”

The killers of all four rationalists are suspected to be linked. Ansari died in police custody after being assaulted by a mob which made him chant “Jai Shri Ram” in Jharkhand in June this year. His 19-year-old wife Shaista Parveen had a miscarriage during his custody on unproven charges of theft.She said: “I have been running from pillar to post and have come all the way from Jharkhand to demand justice for my husband. Modiji, please grant us justice.”

Ammi, a film by film maker Sunil Kumar and produced by Pedestrian Pictures traces this acute loss, search and longing by Fatima Nafis.  “Our words haven’t reached those who should have heard our voices.”

This is one of the lines spoken in the beginning of Ammi, a documentary film by Sunil Kumar, produced by Pedestrian Pictures, which was recently screened at the YMCA, New Delhi and then last week at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. The essence of this line echoes throughout the film, prompting the viewer to recognise the gaps overlooked by the JNU administration as well as the law while investigating the disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed.

After Najeeb went missing on October 15, 2016, there were many cues left to be explored, from the minutest of forensic details (it is claimed Najeeb’s slippers were found on the staircase along with his phone and wallet in the room), to the fact that he was thrashed by students from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in his room the other night, or the perplexing events which took place after his last conversation with his mother, Fatima Nafees, who was on her way to meet him.

Ammi is a documentary which attempts to outline the emotional and factual aspects of JNU student Najeeb Ahmed’s disappearance.

• ·Ammi is named so after his mother Fatima Nafees; the film explores her personal loss as well as the fight she put up against the powers-that-be.
• ·Despite the resultant feud between students at the university and the sociopolitical uproar, director Sunil Kumar says that Najeeb’s disappearance may not really be as complicated as it seems.

 
Related Articles:

1. Delhi Court orders CBI to share key documents in Najeeb case with Fatima Nafis
2. Modi Regime has Rid us of Fear: Mothers Shahira & Fatima Nafees dare Govt
3. Radhika Vemula: I will not rest until Rohith gets Justice
4. Have you seen my son: Rupa Behn Mody
5. This government has all but actually declared a war on its own people: Teesta Setalvad

The post Youth frighten Modi Regime says Fatima Nafis, JNU student Najeeb’s mother appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On April 23, a Delhi court ruled that Fatima Nafis is not only entitled to file a protest petition against the closure report in the investigation into her son Najeeb’s disappearance, but also to copies of the report, all related documents as well as statements of witnesses.

The court has directed the CBI to submit all this to the complainant in two weeks. Additionally the investigating officer has been directed to be present at the next hearing.

CJP stands in solidarity with Indian mothers demanding justice for their children. We salute the courage of Fatima Nafees, Radhika Vemula, Rupa Behn Modi and Asiya Begum.

The order passed by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate says, “The law is settled that in case of closure/cancellation report, complainant is to be given opportunity to file protest petition, if so desired by the complainant.”

The order also states, “Further, there cannot be a half-hearted approach. In fact an effective opportunity be given to the complainant to file protest petition. As such, whole of the cancellation report along with the statement of witnesses and documents which are part and parcel of the present cancellation report, have to be supplied to the complainant side.”

The court has allowed the CBI to provide soft copies of the documents on a pen drive or CD. The entire order may be read here.

In passing the order the court relied on the Supreme Court’s observations in the Jakia Nasim Ahesan vs State of Gujarat. In that order the SC said, “that if for any stated reason the SIT opines in its report, to be submitted in terms of this order, that there is no sufficient evidence or reasonable grounds for proceeding against any person named in the complaint, dated 8th June 2006, before taking a final decision on such ‘closure’ report, the Court shall issue notice to the complainant and make available to her copies of the statements of the witnesses, other related documents and the investigation report strictly in accordance with law as enunciated by this Court in Bhagwant Singh Vs. Commissioner of Police & Anr.2. For the sake of ready reference, we may note that in the said decision, it has been held that in a case where the Magistrate to whom a report is forwarded under Section 173(2)(i) of the Code, decides not to take cognizance of the offence and to drop the proceedings or takes a view that there is no sufficient ground for proceeding against some of the persons mentioned in the FIR, the Magistrate must give notice to the informant and provide him an opportunity to be heard at the time of consideration of the report.”
 

Brief background of the case

Najeeb was a pursuing a Master’s Degree in Biotechnology from New Delhi’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was a sharp young man with what his mother hoped was a bright future. But one evening he ended up in a brawl with members of a student union affiliated with a prominent political party with an extreme right wing ideology. The very next day he went missing.

Najeeb’s friends suspected foul play and Fatima started demanding an explanation about what happened to her son. But nobody seemed to have any answers. The police couldn’t explain what happened. It was almost as if he vanished into thin air!

The case was then handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Related:

Radhika Vemula: I will not rest until Rohith gets Justice
Have you seen my son: Rupa Behn Mody
 

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