HC ALLOWS CBI TO CLOSE NAJEEB CASE

The probe by agency was not ‘tardy and slow’: Court

NEWDELHI: Nearly two years after JNU student Najeeb Ahmed went missing from campus and the police as well as the CBI unsuccessfully investigated his disappearance, the Delhi High Court Monday allowed filing of a closure report in the matter, saying the probe by the premier investigative agency was not “tardy and slow”.

A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel while disposing of the habeas corpus petition moved by the student’s mother, Fatima Nafees, said the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was not “tardy and slow” as was contended by her and rejected her claim that it wanted to file the closure report due to “political compulsions”.

“This court is, for the reasons discussed hereafter, not persuaded that the CBI is tardy and slow in the investigation or that it has not taken steps that are required to be taken in the matter. “In the present case, this court has in fact monitored the investigation thus far of the CBI and has not been persuaded to agree with the petitioner that the CBI has not acted fairly or that it has been under any influence or political compulsions in its decision to file a closure report,” the bench said.

The CBI, which had taken over the probe on May 16 last year, said it had looked into all the aspects of the case and was of the opinion that no offence was committed against the missing student.

Ahmed had gone missing from the Mahi-Mandvi hostel of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here on October 15, 2016, following a scuffle with some students allegedly affiliated to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) the previous night.

As the Delhi Police remained clueless about Ahmed’s whereabouts, the probe was handed over to the CBI on May 16 last year. The Delhi Police had not opposed the handing over of the investigation in the case, saying it had done its bit in the matter.

Fatima’s counsel, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, had during

contended that under the Minnesota Protocol they were entitled to peruse the status reports filed by the CBI in the matter.

Dealing with the argument, the bench said in the present case, at every stage of the hearing, Fatima was aware of the filing of the status reports -- initially by the Delhi Police and later by the CBI. The bench further said that once CBI files its closure report, the complainant may file a ‘protest petition’ opposing it and thereafter, she will be “provided with full excess to the closure report and the materials on which it is based”.