Sedition row: JNU panel upholds rustication of Umar Khalid, fine on Kanhaiya Kumar

The five-member panel took the decision in connection to the incident that took place in the JNU campus in February, 2016 with some students reportedly chanting anti-national slogans.

JNU student leader Umar Khalid (L) (File | EPS)

NEW DELHI: A high-level enquiry committee of the Jawaharlal Nehru University has upheld the rustication of Umar Khalid and imposed a fine of Rs10,000 on Kanhaiya Kumar involved in the major sedition row that had erupted in the campus in February, 2016.

The five-member panel took the decision in connection to the incident that took place in the JNU campus in February, 2016 with some students reportedly chanting anti-national slogans against 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s hanging.
The students involved in the episode were later booked on sedition charges and arrested.

The same year, the JNU administration had recommended the expulsion of Khalid and two other students along with the imposition of fine on Kumar, the then student’s union president. A financial penalty was also imposed on 13 other students for violating the disciplinary norms.

Following the imposition of penalty, the students had then approached the Delhi High Court, which had directed the varsity to place the matter before an appellate authority to review the decision.
Invoking of the sedition charges against students and their arrests had led to massive agitation in the universities and in many other campuses.