Nearly nine years after Najeeb Ahmed, a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student, went missing, a Delhi court has accepted the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) closure report in the case.  Najeeb, an MSc student, went missing from JNU on October 15, 2016 soon after he was allegedly assaulted by students affiliated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).  

Najeeb was 27 years old at the time of his disappearance. His mother, Fatima Nafees, filed a missing person complaint, and an FIR was registered in Delhi.  Najeeb’s mother later petitioned the court and the CBI took over the investigation from the Delhi Police in 2017. The CBI filed its closure report in 2018, after which Najeeb’s mother filed a protest petition opposing it.  

In the order, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Jyoti Maheshwari of the Rouse Avenue Court noted that a “perturbing incident” had taken place before Najeeb went missing, but that it is “ipso facto not sufficient to arrive at the conclusion that the suspects had any role to play in causing the disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed”. However, the court said the case could be reopened if new evidence emerges.

The CBI had concluded its investigation in 2018 after repeated efforts to trace Najeeb failed. It later submitted its closure report to the trial court, having received green light from the Delhi High Court.  Meanwhile, the decision has reignited public anger and concern, especially among student groups and rights activists, many of whom view the closure as an institutional failure. Reactions to the court’s decision have been swift.

Student unions, human rights defenders, and civil society organizations expressed disappointment, calling it a travesty of justice. Many pointed out that the state failed to protect one of its own and feared the case would discourage other families seeking justice in cases of enforced disappearances. Even nine years later, Najeeb Ahmed’s disappearance remains one of the most haunting mysteries in contemporary India—one that continues to reflect on the state of justice, accountability, and political impunity. 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)