How can someone ‘vanish suddenly’: Delhi HC asks cops over missing JNU student

“It is over 50 days. Still you (police) do not know about his whereabouts. How can somebody vanish suddenly and police has no clue about it?”

The Delhi high court on Friday pulled up city police for remaining clueless about missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, who has remained untraced for 55 days, questioning how can a man just “vanish suddenly”.

Najeeb, a first year M.Sc. student, went missing from JNU’s Mahi-Mandvi hostel on October 15 allegedly after an on-campus scuffle between him and some members of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad

“It is over 50 days. Still you (police) do not know about his whereabouts. How can somebody vanish suddenly and police has no clue about it? Even if we think of the worst, something has to be found out. We are pained that the missing person has not been traced till date,” a bench of Justices G S Sistani and Vinod Goel said.

Najeeb, a first year M.Sc. student, went missing from JNU’s Mahi-Mandvi hostel on October 15 allegedly after an on-campus scuffle between him and some members of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The ABVP has denied involvement in his disappearance.

“We are not concerned with the scuffle. We only want that the boy is recovered and he returns to his house. We are concerned that the mother should get her child,” the bench said.

The court’s observation came after the police and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) informed it that Najeeb has remained untraceable till date and they were making all efforts to locate him.

Najeeb’s mother Fatima Nafees has moved a habeus corpus plea against police to find her missing son.

Advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for the police, told the bench that the Crime Branch was exploring all angles to trace Najeeb and even issued advertisements. “We are diligent, We will do whatever is to be done at our level,” Mehra said.

The court has posted the matter for further hearing on December 14.