Student organisations are planning protests after a Delhi court on Monday, June 30, allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to close the missing case of former JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, who vanished on October 15, 2016.

Najeeb Ahmed returned to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) after holidays on October 13, 2016. Two days later, he called his mother, saying "something wrong had happened to him." 

When his mother, Fatima Nafees, travelled from Bulandshahr to meet him, she found his hostel room empty. The MSc Biotechnology student had disappeared following an alleged scuffle with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members at JNU's Mahi-Mandvi hostel.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Jyoti Maheshwari accepted the CBI's closure report, though she granted liberty to reopen the case if new evidence emerges. 

The decision comes nearly eight years after Ahmed's disappearance. The CBI had closed its investigation in 2018 after failing to trace Ahmed, citing that he had refused treatment at Safdarjung Hospital after the alleged assault and that hospital documentation could not corroborate his visit.

Avijit Ghosh, Secretariat Member, Students' Federation of India (SFI) JNU, sharply criticised the investigation process. "We know how things unfolded in 2016 after Najeeb's forceful disappearance. Delhi police initiated taking up this case, and we know how they misled Najeeb's mother during the investigation," he claimed.

The case was later transferred to the CBI, but Ghosh alleged the central agency also failed. "When it was handed over to the CBI by the high court, the CBI also didn't investigate it thoroughly. They didn't even call the suspects who were in ABVP for their deposition and cross-checking. This thorough investigation never happened," he alleged.

Ghosh called the entire process shameful: "They are now submitting the closure report, and the high court is also accepting that. It is very shameful from the side of the government, CBI, and Delhi police that they have neglected and denied justice to a mother whose son has disappeared for this long."

The Students' Federation of India (SFI) has demanded that the case be reopened. "SFI's demand is to reopen the case. Don't submit the closure report and start the investigation thoroughly in a transparent manner," Ghosh stated.

Student organisations are coordinating action across Delhi's universities for the same. "We are also speaking to other students on the campus and different campuses in Delhi University as we are planning to organise a protest," Ghosh said.

Despite the court's decision, student leaders remain defiant. "We are not going to let this happen," Ghosh declared.