'Matter dies when I die,' says Najeeb Ahmed's mother as court closes missing case

A Delhi court last week decided to accept the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) closure report in the matter of Najeeb Ahmed, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student who went missing in October 2016.

This has deeply disappointed his mother Fatima Nafees, but it has not broken her resolve.

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“Main ummeed nahi chhodungi. Jab tak main zinda hoon, main nahi chhodungi. Mere marne ke baad hi ye khatam hoga. Ishrat Jahan ke case me 15 saal lage the ladayi me, mujhe toh abhi 9 saal hi hue hain (I will not lose hope. Until I’m alive, I won’t give up. This matter will end only when I die. The fight for justice in Ishrat Jahan’s case took 15 years. I have only been fighting for nine years),” Nafees told The Federal.

Najeeb Ahmed went missing from the JNU campus in Delhi after an alleged scuffle with members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

It has been an arduous journey for Najeeb’s mother, who has been travelling from their hometown in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh, to Delhi for court hearings for the past nine years.

Missing since 2016

“I haven't been able to speak to my lawyer till now, but I will fight till my last breath. Whether it means going to the High Court or the Supreme Court, I will do it. We all know how the CBI inquiry was conducted. They couldn’t even open the lock pattern on a phone,” Nafees added.

It may be recalled that in May 2018, the CBI told the Delhi High Court that of the nine mobile phones of students suspected in the Najeeb Ahmed case, three had not been examined because two were not in “working order” and the third was protected by a lock pattern.

Najeeb had gone missing from the JNU campus in Delhi after an alleged scuffle with members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) — the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — on the night of October 14, 2016.

While an ABVP activist claimed Najeeb slapped him, the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) claimed Najeeb had been “brutally attacked” by the ABVP.

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Najeeb’s last call to mother

According to Nafees, Najeeb had called her at around 2 am that night and asked her to come to Delhi, telling her there had been a hadsa (incident). She spoke to him again at 11 am the next day from the Anand Vihar Railway Station in Delhi, and said she would be there soon.

But, when she reached around noon, Najeeb was gone. His phone and wallet were still in his room. Najeeb never returned.

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“It is about my child after all. I don’t even know what happened to my child. There is no one to tell me. Is it possible that a person disappears and you do not know anything? They haven’t even found his body. I have been patient. I have left everything to Allah. I’m fighting so that something like this does not happen again to anyone,” said Nafees.

Heart-broken

Several health ailments, including diabetes, high blood pressure, varicose veins and pain in her spine, mean Nafees is not able to be as active as she once was. While physical strength has taken a hit, her faith has remained steadfast.

“I have terrible back and leg pain all the time. It’s difficult for me to squat or even sit for long periods. Living with stress for all these years has taken a toll on me. I don’t know whether I will be able to live much longer.

"I pray to Allah. I say — if you have given me life, then bring him (Najeeb) from somewhere. Otherwise, we will meet again. We will meet on Judgment Day (Qayamat me milenge),” she said.

Tough times for family

Life has been hard for the family, which has primarily been surviving on the salary of Mujeeb, Najeeb’s brother, who works in Saudi Arabia. Nafees’ other son, Haseeb, was left without a job when his contract at the Delhi Waqf Board was terminated in 2022. That case is still pending in court.

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“Najeeb’s father has also been extremely unwell. He has a heart ailment, which means his pulse fluctuates a lot. He used to sit at home and worry, but now he has opened a shop selling cloth material. How long can one just sit at home?” she said.

In these nine years, people have told Nafees to give up, to accept that, perhaps, Najeeb is gone for good. But it is not a thought she has entertained even for a moment.

“Sometimes people say that he is no more, but she never feels that way. Neither she nor I feel that he is no longer in this world. Even after nine years, we have hope that Najeeb will be found,” said Sadaf Musharraf, Najeeb’s cousin.

Hope for change in govt

Nafees makes sure she marks Najeeb’s birthday — October 18 — every year. “On his birthday, I distribute toffees to children who study in the mosque, and pray for him. He was the only one in the family on whose birthday we always cut a cake. For others’ birthdays, I cook what they like, or I give them money, and they go out to eat what they want. But his birthday was always special,” she said.

The family’s hope for justice is hinging on a change in government at the Centre. “For the past nine years, I was only hoping that the government would change, and I still hope that. Maami (Nafees) is fighting for her son, and for them (BJP), ABVP is like their child,” Musharraf told The Federal.

Nafees, too, remains hopeful that things will change if the BJP loses power. “Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi have promised me that they will start investigating again. The case will be reopened, and everything will be looked at in detail. Allah has kept me alive only in this hope,” she said.