On day five, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration in its defense told a section of the print media that "it has left no stone unturned in locating him (Najeeb Ahmad — a first year MSc student at School of Biotechnology-went missing on October 15 from the hostel after an alleged brawl) and they are "tense" over his (Ahmad) safety.
Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar said "finding Ahmad is the primary concern" while along with his team of Proctor, Rector and Dean of Students appealed to the JNU community to cooperate in locating him. Also, he appealed to Ahmad to appear in the campus "in case he was hiding" and resume his academic activities.
"Our primary concern is to find Najeeb as quickly as possible and bring him back to the university and secondly chief proctor is investigating the whole matter and whatever is the final outcome according to the university rules we will take the final decision," Kumar said on Wednesday in a meeting with a selected section of print media including The Pioneer.
Refuting that the administration "singled out" Ahmad by calling him an "accused" in a Press statement while not mentioning the assault on him by the opposite group, JNU Rector Professor Chintamani Mahapatra said the term used does not mean a "convict".
"The word accused has been abused by many people since then ...an accused is not a convict, anybody can accuse somebody of something..,"he said.
While sending out notices to the people in residential areas to report if Ahmad was found, they said police along with wardens searched across the hostels and no clue of Ahmad was found anywhere.
Based on the names that have come out after several depositions, the JNU administration has sent out notices to 12 students.
"We gave an open call to students and asked them to come if they have to say anything in the matter. Based on their depositions, names which have come out in the events have been served notices," said Chief Proctor AP Dimri.
The V-C defended himself over allegation of favouratism towards ABVP saying that "the administration was engaging not only one section while as his entire team is talking to everyone on campus."
"Not only have we called the students, teachers and other for inputs but we heard the pain of mother and suffering of brothers and sister... it was difficult for us. We gave all possible assurances to them saying that this institution is doing everything possible to solve this matter," added Mahapatra.
Rubbishing the complaint by a group of students that there was a presence of mob outside the hostel after the episode, Mahapatra said it is the culture of JNU that students gather to inquire about any happening inside
the campus.
"The complaint has come about the mob but we don't want to comment on it because it is under severe investigation."
While the team did not mention anything about the ongoing investigation, it said the CCTV camera on the main gate is of low resolution.
"We will try our best to install as many CCTVs as possible because it is not about surveillance but the safety and the security of the students," said Mahaparta.