Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday gave a notice in the Lok Sabha under rule 377 asking for urgent public attention on the case of the missing Jawaharlal Nehru University student Najeeb Ahmad. In his submission in Parliament, Tharoor claimed that the eyewitnesses who complained against the accused have been threatened and intimidated. He also questioned why the police and university administration have failed to punish the culprits.
“It has been a month since his disappearance and the police have failed to track him. The University administration has failed to conduct a proper inquiry and failed to punish the culprits,” he said. He added this incident has created a fearful atmosphere at the university. “Educational institutes are secular, free spaces and should remain so,” said Tharoor.
“I urge this government to immediately, redouble its efforts to find Mr Najeeb. I also urge the Government to take steps to guarantee the safety and security of students in campuses, to reaffirm their freedom of speech and expression, freedom to protest and to collectively restore the ideals of our constitution in public spaces,” Tharoor ended.
Ahmad had gone missing following an altercation with members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in October. Ahmad was a first-year MSc student at School of Biotechnology at JNU and a native of Badaun in Uttar Pradesh. The ABVP is a student organisation linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
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