NEW DELHI: Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Monday rusticated Umar Khalid and two other students for varying durations and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on students union president Kanhaiya Kumar in connection with the February 9 event on the campus against Afzal Guru’s hanging.

Umar was rusticated for one semester, Anirban Bhattacharya till July 15 and Mujeeb Gattoo for two semesters. Bhattacharya has also been barred from pursuing any course in JNU for the next five years. Khalid has also been slapped with a fine of Rs 20,000.

Reacting to the disciplinary action, JNUSU vice-president Shehla Rashid said:

“We completely reject this farcical enquiry report, as it is based on sheer vendetta and a biased enquiry. These are all innocent students, coming from extremely humble and underprivileged backgrounds. They are all dedicated activists and this is a conspiracy to crush anti-Modi voices. “Not only will we not remain silent against this anti-people government, we will also challenge this sham of a report.

The punishments are all based on one-sided statements from ABVP members, and our repeated calls to conduct a fair enquiry were ignored.

“The V-C is taking directions from the Central government. He should have acted first as an academician and then as an RSS loyalist.”

While Umar and Anirban were found guilty of triggering communal violence and disrupting communal harmony on campus, Mujeeb was found guilty of participating in the sloganeering.

Kanhaiya, Umar and Anirban were arrested on charges of sedition in February in connection with the controversial event and are out on bail.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2016