[Reader-list] FTII student's 'disappearance' gets murkier

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

*FTII student's 'disappearance' gets murkier*  1 Jan 2010, 0911 hrs IST
 The disappearance of a Nepali citizen who was also an FTII Pune student,
Neetu Singh, has raised several questions.

Neetu , a final year editing student at FTII was picked up by Pune Police on
the night of December 5 on grounds of National security. Neetu was then
taken to Mumbai before being deported to Kathmandu the next day. Sources say
that Neetu singh had Maoist links and that she had been under watch for a
while now. Neetu was questioned for nearly three hours befor being deported.


However Neetu Singh's fellow students say there was nothing remotely
"anti-national" about Neetu. She was in FTII on a scholarship from the
Indian Council of Cultural Relations. She is married to Amaresh Singh, a
chemistry teacher in Kathmandus Amrit Science college, got a scholarship to
do his Ph D in Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Their wedding two years ago at the Armed Police Force club was a major
social event in Kathmandu attended by the top political establishment,
including Prachanda, G P Koirala and Baburam Bhattarai.

The All India Democratic Womens Association (AIDWA)which has taken up
Neetu's case, claims their marriage had soured.

AIDWA's Maharashtra unit chief Kiran Moghe claims that in June 2008, Neetu
first approached them to complain against her husband's harassment. The
marriage had soured and Neetu wanted to break away, she said.

According to reports at 10.30 pm on December 5, two women plainclothes
officers came to the hostel and said they had come to take Neetu as she
needed to identify someone against whom she had registered a complaint
earlier. "In 20 minutes, five to six women officers came and asked the way
to her room S-9 and packed her things. When I tried to protest, they said
they had informed the director, said FTII Matron Koshy.

"It's almost like a political kidnapping. Without any warning the police
entered a national institute that falls under the central government and
took a student away. they also lied, tricked and deported her. They did not
even inform the director," Neetu's student friend Samar told TIMES NOW.