Umar Khalid

NEW DELHI: Over two years after the infamous incident where “anti-national” slogans were allegedly raised in the campus, the JNU administration has upheld its 2016 decision and served a rustication notice to student Umar Khalid . Several others, including the then JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar , have been fined .

Khalid, who is to submit his MPhil thesis this month, may not be allowed to do so if he is rusticated.

In the February 9, 2016 incident, an alleged pro-Afzal Guru event was organised which saw the arrest of three students — Umar Khalid, Kanhaiya Kumar and Anirban Bhattacharya — on sedition charges. A three-member high-level inquiry committee was constituted by the vice-chancellor on February 11, 2016. However, it was expanded to five members on February 23, 2016 after teachers raised questions against it.

The report, which first came out on March 15, pointed out that the booking form for hosting the event at Sabarmati lawns was never submitted to the approving authorities by the students. The committee also blamed JNUSU for not acting responsibly.

The committee had recommended rustication of Khalid, Bhattacharya and two others and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Kumar. A financial penalty was imposed on 13 students for violation of disciplinary norms. However, the students moved the Delhi high court and sat on a hunger strike from April 28. HC provided “conditional relief” to the students and stayed the order. The university administration then began a fresh investigation.

“Khalid has been rusticated for six semesters and fined for Rs 20,000, while Kumar’s fine of Rs 10,000 has been upheld,” sources said.

Despite repeated attempts through calls and SMS, the JNU administration did not respond to TOI’s queries.

Calling the report political motivated, Khalid told TOI that it’s farcical because the same punishment has been meted the third time in the last two years. “We reject this punishment and will explore all options against it,” he added.

