Picture credit: From video by Haider Saif and Samim Asgor Ali

Imagine if this person were to- one fine morning- simply disappear, without leaving a trace. Not only would it throw your life out of gear, into utter chaos and uncertainty, it would cause immeasurable pain, agony and regret that only you can understand.

“How I wish I was with him at that time.”

“Has he eaten in 25 days?”

“Is he even alive?”

You wish that your questions could reach him.

You regret every argument that you have ever had, every petty fight, every harsh word, and you wish that you could make it all right. You wish you could send him his favorite food. You wish you could see her smile once, or even see her cry, but see her, nevertheless. You wish, and wish, and wish. And you wish endlessly. You feel empty. You feel as if you are at the end of a long, dark tunnel with no light at the other end. You wish merely for a blinker to appear somewhere, if not a light.

You wish you had held him so close that only death could have separated him from you. Death is an event which leads to closure, after a certain period of grief. Disappearance makes you sway between hope and despair, endlessly. The condition of a person waiting for a ‘missing’ relative is similar to that of a convict on death row, waiting for pardon. It is not very different from being on a prolonged period of reprieve, where not only is the outcome unpredictable, but also the length of the wait.

At times, the absence of any news of their death gives you immense hope of their return. Even if they are being held by force, they might try to escape. If they are away due to fear, they might try to contact you. But the very next thought that grips you is that, if they were alive, they would’ve reached out, would have asked for help, made a call or hitchhiked home, sent an anonymous note, a crypted message, an unsigned letter. You keep your eyes, ears and all other senses wide open, so as to not miss, even by mistake, any feeble cry for help that may appear overtly, or in dusguise. You look for hidden messages/signals/gestures everywhere- to the point of paranoia. You can’t sleep- you want to make sure that you don’t miss a midnight knock, or a ‘missed call’ from an unknown number.

You plan celebrations in your head, in the event of their return. The very next moment, you think about the eventuality of their death, and how you would cope with that news, if and when it arrives.

On Diwali, Najeeb Ahmed’s family spent the night outside the Administration Block of JNU, waiting for their son. Their Diwali could not be complete without their missing child. When asked if she had eaten, Najeeb’s mother refused any food and said, instead, that, “when Najeeb comes back, I will throw a feast for all of you”, with tears still rolling down her wrinkled cheeks. The wait for a missing son is like an intertwined set of cables, each one representing, respectively, hope, agony and helplesness- all running together, all equally dominant, alternately. Hope is what binds the movement for Najeeb’s return together. Hope is what makes Najeeb’s devastated mother stand outside the Delhi Police headquarters or outside the JNU Administration block, seeking justice. Another mother, Parveena Ahanger, founder of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons in Jammu and Kashmir, has turned hope into a movement, a campaign to bring back the loved ones of the waiting families affiliated to her association.

Perhaps, associating and relating to one another’s agony makes the pain beareable, and allows one to fight back. She is a mother, not only to her missing son, but to over 15,000 youth who have disappeared in Kashmir, over the past two decades or so.

Hope is not an entirely beautiful thing- it tires you and it drains you. It stops you from giving up, but it also stops you from moving on. Hope turns into resistance precisely because it stops you from moving on. Moving on is easy choice; not moving on is a hard choice, and an informed choice. It is when you decide not to move on, that you connect the personal to the political. Every morsel of food that you take, every comfort of life that you may enjoy- shelter, warmth, the cool breeze of a fan- you tend to think whether the same is available to your missing friend, or your missing son. This is what makes an activist out of your ordinary self. That moment- when you think of your fellows while accessing the basic comforts of life- is the moment that turns you into an activist. Thinking of others’ plight while living your life is what characterises an activist.

Before Najeeb’s disappearance, his family members were quiet and kept to themselves, while JNU was full of activists. The roles have been overturned. The JNU community is akin today, to a mother waiting for her son’s return, while Najeeb’s family members have turned into activists, who, by not giving up, inspire the students to fight. While addressing students, a few days back at the Administration Block, Najeeb’s sister pledged to raise her voice for every injustice around her, from then onwards. It is the realisation that we are all vulnerable before those who are powerful, that makes us stand up for one another.

Disapperance signals the total breakdown of the state’s accountability mechanisms. No one is able to tell you how your son disappeared, or why he cannot be found. In Najeeb’s case, the police refuse to share information with the family or with the Students’ Union, on a regular basis. Secrecy marks the investigation, yet nothing is found. Not even a single clue. The day Najeeb went missing, his distraught mother went to the police station to file an FIR. She was told not to mention anything about the assault on Najeeb, and only report that her son is missing! This- despite the fact that she had come to Delhi precisely beause her son had called her up the night before, and told her about the assault. Najeeb had asked her to come as soon as she could. He had been assaulted. He was scared. Too scared to even get first aid. Too scared to go back to the hostel. One cannot even begin to imagine what his protective mother must be going through now, thinking how much he needed her presence, her unconditional embrace at that point. The 7 odd hours that it took her to get from Badaun to JNU cost Najeeb so dearly. It is painful and heartbreaking to think that he went missing just before his mother arrived.

The last thing that this helpless mother needed was to be dragged by the police. People are not even allowed to gather to express anguish and demand something, demand accountability. Members of the MHA-constituted SIT are seen boarding a 615 numbered bus, preventing people from protesting (as opposed to looking for Najeeb- their designated job). Individual students roaming around in the Central Delhi area are profiled and their ID cards checked. Even the Section 144 of CrPC which is often invoked to deny people their right to protest (and, hence, accountability) requires a threshold number of people to assemble and organise, in order for the police to disperse them. However, Najeeb’s sister, standing alone by the roadside, keeps asking why she’s being dragged away. No answers. Where is Najeeb? No answers. Why were sniffer dogs not called in the very next day? Why did police not interrogate those who assaulted and threatened to kill him? Why did the JNU Vice-Chancellor not file a police complaint in the case? Why is the VC actively omitting the fact that Najeeb was assaulted and threatened before his disappearance? No answers.

With the disappearance of Najeeb, disappears the overly present state and institutions- ever ready to crush protests and criminalise dissent. With his disappearance, disappear the answers, disappears accountability, disappears a reassurance that institutions will come to our rescue. Only one hope remains- the hope that people will get together unconditionally and demand answers. Until thatdisappears, the possibility of redemption exists.

Shehla Rashid is a student activist with AISA and a former Vice President of the JNU Students Union.

(This article was first published on Kafila.online.)

Also read: Resist Modi Regime’s Assault on Students Through Subramaniam Panel Report on Student Politics: Shehla Rashid

The post The Anatomy of a Disappearance: Shehla Rashid appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Representational picture. Image credit: The Indian Express

Talking to SabrangIndia, Pandey slammed the police for not being efficient in investigating Najeeb’s disappearance and accused police and the university administration of protecting Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). “We see a possibility of a nexus between ABVP and the police here. Both of them are making the same allegations. When the police detained the protesters yesterday from India Gate area, they kept alleging that it's us, who have hidden Najeeb somewhere – exactly what ABVP has been claiming. Both of them claim that he’s still on campus. Police is simply buying into their propaganda and is harassing us. On the investigation front, there is no progress. Police is clearly ignoring its primary responsibility,” claimed Pandey.

He told SabrangIndia, “The ABVP guys with whom Najeeb had had a fight with a day before he went missing, are still roaming free. After our repeated questions and attempts, two of these guys were just interrogated. No action has been taken against them by the university administration,” he said.

Pandey was detained on Sunday along with Najeeb Ahmad’s mother, relatives and several other students from the university by Delhi Police for trying to organise a protest near India Gate. Students and Najeeb’s family were picked up before they could begin the protest and were taken to different police stations. In the process of detaining, Najeeb’s mother Fatima Nafees was dragged from the spot outside the National Archives of India.

Image credit: Topyaps.com Najeeb's mother Fatima Nafees was dragged by Delhi Police on Sunday.

Image credit: India Today Earlier this year, Radhika Vemula was dragged by police in a similar incident.

The images and videos of the incident went viral on social media, which resembled the incident in which Radhika Vemula – mother of a research scholar from Hyderabad Central University Rohith Vemula, was similarly dragged by Delhi Police earlier this year. Rohith had committed suicide on January 17 in his hostel room inside Hyderbad Central University.

JNU students led by JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU), and Najeeb’s family members have been protesting in the capital as even after 23 days, police have failed in locating Najeeb or in taking strong action against the ABVP perpetrators.

Pandey informed SabrangIndia, “They detained us at round 3.30 pm, and took us all to the different police stations. Najeeb’s mother was taken to Mayapuri police station, his sister was taken to Mandir Marg (police station) and students were taken to South Avenue police station. We were let go at around 8.30 pm.”

Pandey claimed that the police manhandled Nafees and were also beating up the students. “They were beating us up, and kept shouting at us. They said things like: you want justice? Here’s your justice, and kept hitting the students,” he claimed.

While the police have claimed that they had requested JNUSU in writing not to go near India Gate citing Section 144 CrPC is in force, Pandey said that they had replied to the written notice by the police. “We had informed them that we do not agree with the reasons you have cited and that we’re going ahead with the protest,” he said.

Even after 24 days since his disappearance, police and the SIT have not been able to trace Najeeb, who went missing from the university hostel after a brawl with ABVP students on October 14. His mother Nafees has since been in Delhi and has been demanding speedy investigation of the case. JNUSU is going to keep protesting, said Pandey. “We’re also planning to meet the president. We’ll urge him to look into the matter and speed up the investigation,” said Pandey.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The post ABVP, Delhi Police speaking one Language: JNUSU President Mohit Pandey appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Najeeb, who has been missing since the night of October 15, had had an altercation with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) students on the premises of the university hostel during which he was allegedly beaten up by the ABVP mob. He had last spoken with his mother, who reached campus the very next day only to find him missing. Witnesses have also said that he was assaulted by students owing affiliation to the ABVP who reportedly also abused him during the attack.
 
While an SIT has been constituted for the investigation and help has been sought from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Najeeb’s family reportedly said at a press conference on Thursday (October 27) that they have no faith in JNU administration or Delhi Police. Jawharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) has been protesting along with Najeeb’s family on the university premises, demanding action against the ABVP students involved in the brawl.
 
Satarupa Chakraborty, general secretary, JNUSU told SabrangIndia, “Even after 15 days, they haven’t been able find any trace of Najeeb, and still the police have not arrested or even interrogated those who had attacked Najeeb the night before he went missing. They’re roaming around freely on the campus, as if they don’t have anything to do with this incident. This is really bothering us.”
 
She further claimed, “We were told by the home ministry that we’ll be briefed about the search operations on a daily basis and will be kept aware of the details of the investigation, which they have not followed. We don’t trust the police, since no action has been taken against the perpetrators and no information is being shared with us.”
 
Slamming the university administration for its apathy towards the missing student Chakraborty said, “They’ve given out several statements expressing concern over Najeeb, but haven’t said a word about the brawl that was the reason behind all of this. What is the meaning of this? We cannot trust the university administration either.” 
 
She also informed SabrangIndia that the Student’s Union is in the process of seeking legal opinion as their next step, if Najeeb is not to be found in the next couple of days. “We’ll continue to protest. We will not give up. So far we have approached different concerned authorities, from the ministry of home affairs to the national minority commission. Now, we plan to meet the President of India with a representative, mass signature campaign. It is shocking that this degree of apathy is shown by a central university in the capital” she said. 
 

The post A Fortnight Down, where is Najeeb? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: Catch News

Since 15 Oct, the entire campus has been in a state of intense worry. Najeeb is still missing, the JNU administration are least interested in finding him. Najeeb was brutally beaten up by a group of ABVP activists, Delhi Police’s pronouncements have not shown any concrete outcome. And now, when all of us are worried about his safety, the ABVP is busy trying to spread LIES and HIDE the facts about violence and intimidation they unleashed that have led to this horrific situation.

LIE 1 :
ABVP is circulating notings of Warden’s Register regarding the 14 Oct night meeting in Warden’s Office where Najeeb is claimed to have deposed in front of Wardens, in the presence of present and former hostel presidents, the JNUSU President and several other hostel residents. ABVP is using this ‘document’ to claim that the JNUSU and the JNUSU President have already ‘endorsed’ Najeeb’s guilt and are NOW creating an unnecessary ruckus for political purposes.

FACT :
The JNUSU President and others were present at the Wardens’ office on 14 October to protect Najeeb from the ABVP organised group violence, and to ensure that the dispute and alleged incident be investigated through proper mechanisms available in JNU through Warden’s intervention and not through group violence. Signatures of JNUSU President along with other student representatives of the hostel only show that they were present in this part of the proceedings and do not amount to JNUSU expressing any verdict of ‘guilt’ on Najeeb.

It is also clear that the there is no signature of the JNUSU President on the ‘decisions’ of the Warden’s committee meeting, shown in the second part of the notings.

LIE 2:
ABVP is conveniently NOT mentioning the next Wardens’ Committee meeting held on 16 Oct.

FACT :
ABVP is trying to hide the fact of their violence in full public display which several students and JNUSU President continuously raised. These complaints were taken up in the next warden’s meeting on 16 Oct morning, which categorically decided the following:

ALL DECISIONS taken at the previous meeting HAVE BEEN DEFERRED.

Also, this meeting HAS TAKEN COGNIZANCE of the massive violence and DECIDED to investigate the group violence on Najeeb.

 

Records of Warden’s Committee Meeting of 16 Oct
 

Clearly, the ABVP CANNOT escape the truth that it indulged in physical assault on and criminal intimidation of Najeeb. The JNUSU President is himself witness to this. Right from 14 Oct, the JNUSU President has made this very clear. He has informed ALL authorities – the Warden’s Committee, the JNU administration and the Delhi Police – of this criminal violence against and intimidation of Najeeb.

LIE 3 :
ABVP is circulating a ‘letter’ of 14 Oct by Najeeb’s roommate Mohd Qasim to the warden. Najeeb’s roommate in his letter of 18 Oct makes it clear that this 14 Oct ‘letter’ was a deliberately misleading concoction.

FACT :
The ‘letter’ being circulated by ABVP is NOT in Najeeb’s roommate’s handwriting. On 14 Oct night, when a vicious lynch mob was attacking and threatening Najeeb, Qasim’s only concern was to protect Najeeb and take him out. A suggestion was made that Najeeb be transferred to another hostel for his safety. Ayush Bharadwaj, a student whom Qasim knew as having been twice on the Election Committee (EC), offered to draft a letter seeking hostel transfer. Trusting him to do so, Qasim signed the letter drafted by Ayush, in a hurry. In the tense and violent situation inside Warden’s room, Qasim made the mistake of signing the letter in good faith without reading it carefully assuming that the letter was a request for a hostel transfer. In the midst of the prevailing tension, Qasim’s only concern was to ensure that Najeeb is moved to safety to another space/hostel, as there was a real risk to his life. This is why the letter is in AYUSH’S HANDWRITING – NOT QASIM’S, and in English, not Hindi which Qasim is more comfortable with.

It was only when Qasim was about to depose to the Proctor’s Office that Ayush came up to him and said ‘Zyada uchhlo mat – maine jo chitthi bheja padh lo ek baar aur aukat me raho?’ – i.e Ayush tried to intimidate Qasim into avoiding deposing against the ABVP men who attacked Najeeb, telling him, “Read the letter I sent you and remain in your limits.” It was only then that Qasim checked his WhatsApp and read the letter (written in English in Ayush’s writing) thoroughly for the first time. Qasim was shocked to find that the concluding sentences of the letter were full of malicious lies, suggesting that Qasim felt ‘threatened by Najeeb’ and ‘wanted him shifted out’! Qasim realised Aysuh took advantage of his trust to get his signature on the letter (drafted and handwritten by Ayush) with conspiratorial intent. Realising his mistake of signing the Ayush’s drafted letter without careful reading in the midst of the violent and chaotic situation, Qasim drafted another letter himself clarifying the real situation and submitting it to the Warden and Proctor on 18 October.

Letter drafted and handwritten by Ayush on 14 Oct, signed by Qasim

 

Qasim’s 18 Oct Letter clarifying the context and conspiratorial concoction in 14 Oct Letter'

Further, facts also show that far from feeling ‘threatened’ by Najeeb, Qasim had taken Najeeb to the hospital the same night, spoken to Najeeb’s mother, given Najeeb his medicines as advised by his mother, and remained with Najeeb throughout the night of 14 Oct, worried about the Najeeb’s sleeplessness. All these facts, along with facts about the assault and threats to Najeeb – are ON RECORD in the written depositions given by Qasim to ALL authorities (JNU administration as well as the Delhi Police).

Issues at stake

Disputes occur in every campus. Allegations need to be investigated through proper mechanisms available – Hostel Committees, Warden’s or Proctor’s office etc. and NOT through group violence and communal profiling. The ABVP is very dangerously trying to completely destroy the existing ‘dispute-resolution mechanism’ in JNU – and replace it with organised violence with full administrative indulgence.

Shamefully, the JNU VC and the JNU administration, through their silence on and refusal to act against those ABVP violence mongers are supporting ABVP in this dangerous and devious game.

Is group violence by ABVP the ‘dispute resolution model’ that the JNU VC is promoting in JNU?

In campus after campus (HCU, BHU, DU, Lucknow Univ, Allahabad Univ in recent times) the ABVP is being allowed to rampage violently, unchecked. The JNU administration and the VC are taking JNU down the same road.

ABVP’s lies and propaganda cannot hide the truth. The truth is that their organised group violence is being used as a dispute-redressal mechanism by ABVP, and that the JNU administration is supporting the ABVP’s crude political agenda.

(This article was first published on Indiaresists.com.)

Also read: Student Najeeb Ahmad of JNU Missing for Fourth Day, Protests Mount
Also read: JNU Students form Human Chain in Protest, Search for Najeeb Ahmad Desperate

The post 10 Days and Najeeb is Still Missing: JNU Students Union Rebuts ABVP’s ‘Lies’ appeared first on SabrangIndia.