The mother of missing JNU student, Najeeb, has sued several media outlets including India Today group and Times of India seeking damages worth Rs 2.2 crore.

Fatima filed her defamation suit through the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) against Times of India, Times Now, Dilli Aajtak and also reporters of the Times of India and India Today Group while seeking damages of Rs 2.2 crore besides a permanent injunction on publishing/ broadcasting news in any manner, reported Live Law website.

Times of India in its 21 March edition last year had carried Raj Shekhar Jha’s report, which made an astonishing claim implying that Ahmed may have joined the dreaded terrorist outfit IS.

Jha’s report, based on sources from Delhi Police, had said, “A report on the browsing history of Najeeb’s laptop received by Delhi Police from Google and YouTube has revealed that in the months preceding his disappearance, Najeeb had been looking for information on Islamic State (IS) — ideology, executions and network. His Google searches included things like ways to join IS. Highly-placed sources claimed that most of the videos he watched on YouTube were also related to the Islamic State. These details, which have opened another line of investigations, have been submitted in the Delhi high court.”

The reporter’s ‘fake’ creativity didn’t end here. To make his report carry a tinge of seriousness, Jha attempted to add an intelligent spin by including the role of ‘counter-intelligence agency.’

His report said, “Desperate to get a breakthrough in the case, the cops are now also exploring – with the help of a counter-intelligence agency – the possibility of him getting radicalised and being lured away via Nepal. Posters with Najeeb’s photograph have been put up in several areas of Nepal that are close to UP.”

In her defamation suit, filed before the court through advocates Nabila Hasan, Anas Tanwir and Rudro Chatterjee, Fatima made a reference to Jha’s report published in ToI. She also went on to add that even Times Now ran tickers and news with captions like “Najeeb searched for information on ISIS” and “Najeeb an ISIS sympathiser?”, copies of which continue to be available on the Internet and the news trended widely on social media, added Live Law website.

Fatima had also sent a legal notice to Dilli Aajtak, a Delhi specific Hindi channel by India Today group, but did not reportedly get any response.