'We pray for Neetu'

Friends and staff at FTII hope for deported student Neetu Singh's well-being in Nepal

Friends, women's organisations and the matron at Film And Television Institute of India (FTII) are all praying for the well-being of final year student, Neetu Singh (pictured).

"She knows we are praying for her. I hope she can return and complete her course. She just had a couple of days left," said Gloria Koschy, matron at the girl's hostel at FTII.

According to Koschy, Singh's course would have been completed by December end as she was editing a diploma film directed by friend Priya Zanvar, but she was deported all of a sudden on December 5.

Said Zanvar, "I am really concerned about her safety and I wish after going through this phase she finally gets
the freedom to do whatever she wants."

Koschy revealed that Singh's parents and her husband Amresh Kumar Singh had come to FTII last year around June-July to celebrate her birthday.

"Singh was away in Mumbai. She returned after we got in touch with her. She told our director that she did not want to meet her husband and he was asked to leave the guest house. However, her parents stayed on for a couple of days."

Singh had gone to Nepal in 2008 and had left a letter with the matron saying, 'I am going to end this. If you get the information that I am dead please inform my parents.'

Good student
Richa Gupta, a student,u00a0 said, "It's hard to believe something like this would happen to a person like Neetu, who is such a sincere student."

Durgesh Katkar, another editing student from FTII, added, "Everybody is shocked by the way it was carried out. Neetu is a good editor from our batch."

Samarth Dixit, president of the student union, said, "No one contacted her after she was taken away on December 5. We were appalled by the way this issue was handled by cops. There was no response from the police till December 8, when the DCP of the SB branch wrote a letter to our director, but the letter was vague. We know Neetu for a long time, and strongly feel that the allegations against her are baseless."