Missing JNU student: Kejriwal assures family of all help

The Delhi government will provide all help and assistance to trace Najeeb Ahmad, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal assured the missing JNU student's family on Monday.

"I am with you and will do whatever is required to help trace him. It's a very serious matter and the government will not let you down and use all its resources available to help you out," Kejriwal told Najeeb's mother, Fatima Nafees, who met him at his residence.

"I would leave no stone unturned in helping find Najeeb," Kejriwal was quoted as saying in a statement issued here.

A delegation of Jawahar Lal Nehru Students' Union (JNUSU), headed by its General Secretary Satarupa Chakraborty, also accompanied Najeeb's family to the Cheif Minister's office and submitted a memorandum.

The students demanded Kejriwal's intervention in ensuring strong action by the police, which students said failed to trace Najeeb so far, even after a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to this end.

The students raised the issue of the university administration's failure with the Chief Minister and apprised him of a "total abdication of institutional responsibility" and its "partisan role" in the whole affair.

It was also brought to his notice that a Proctorial Inquiry which was constituted to probe the incident, also failed to do justice with the victim, and instead termed him an "accused" in its report.

"The JNU administration on October 17, far from assuring Najeeb's safety, found it more important to refer to him as an 'accused' and thus, add to his fears of being prosecuted," the memorandum read.

"The Warden's meeting of October 16 had already took cognisance of group violence on Najeeb and decided for enquiry into it. Yet the October 17 release by JNU administration had no mention whatsoever of the attacks on Najeeb himself," it said.

Najeeb Ahmed, an M.Sc first-year student, went missing on the intervening night of October 14-15 after being beaten by a 20-strong mob of students who had gone campaigning to his door for hostel elections.

He had been allotted a room in Mahi-Mandvi hostel in the campus 15 days before the incident.

It has since been alleged by many eyewitnesses that the group of students who had beaten up Najeeb belonged to Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), an RSS student wing.

Earlier, the students staged a protest at the Proctor's office, demanding an action against the assaulters from varsity officials.

--IANS

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