200 JNU students, Najeeb's mother detained in Delhi before protest

Around 200 Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students as well as missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmad's mother were detained here on Sunday while they were proceeding to stage a protest near India Gate against police inaction in the case.

One of the protestors, Shahid Raza, alleged that police manhandled Najeeb's mother Fatima. The detainees were later taken to Mandir Marg police station, police said.

"The police detained us on way to India Gate. They manhandled Najeeb's mother... in fact, two young women riding an auto-rickshaw were detained by male police officials who were not accompanied by any woman police official," Raza told IANS.

"Najeeb's mother being dragged away by Delhi Police. In this country, a mother cannot publicly protest for her missing son," tweeted Pratik Sinha.

A police official told IANS that the protestors were detained since restrictions under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, banning assembly of four or more people at one place, are in force around India Gate.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who met the JNU students ahead of their protest, questioned why the Centre is "scared" of the students.

"I want to ask Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi -- why is he so scared of students," Kejriwal told reporters.

The Chief Minister said that if even half of the policemen deployed on Sunday were used to trace Najeeb, he would have been found by now.

"If you stop the youths, they will get more agitated. I have told you many times, Modi-ji, don't mess with students," he later said in a tweet.

JNU Students Union General Secretary Satarupa Chakraborty, meanwhile, said they were protesting as no effective action had been taken to find the student who has been missing since October 15.

"The students who beat up Najeeb were called for interrogation only on Saturday. This is too little, too late," Chakraborty said.

--IANS

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