Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has cracked down on the accused students who were found complicit in the February 9, 2016 “anti-national” row. An Appellate Authority, constituted by the Vice-Chancellor to review the decision of an enquiry panel, has upheld the rustication of JNU student Umar Khalid, making Anirban Bhattacharya out of bounds from the campus for 5 years. The panel reiterated the stiff penalty of Rs 10,000 imposed on then JNU Student’s Union president Kanhaiya Kumar by the high-level enquiry committee in 2016.
It may be recalled that a high-level enquiry committee was formed after the “anti-national” row to probe the intricacies and alleged involvement of the accused students. Both Khalid and Kanhaiya were allegedly involved in a seditious event organised on February 9, 2016 by the radical left faction in JNU against the judicial hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. In the said event, “anti-national” slogans were allegedly raised after which a row erupted between members of right wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and sympathisers of Afzal Guru.
The JNU panel had in 2016 recommended rustication of Khalid and two other students and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Kanhaiya .
The five-member panel had also imposed financial penalty on 13 other students for violation of disciplinary norms. The students had then moved the Delhi High Court, which had directed the university to place the matter before an appellate authority to review the panel’s decision.
According to some sources, though the panel has upheld its decision in the case of Khalid and Kanhaiya, the penalty has also been reduced for some students.
Kumar, Khalid and Bhattacharya were arrested in February 2016 on charges of sedition in connection with the controversial event and are out on bail. Their arrest had triggered widespread protests and resentment among the JNU students who rally behind Kumar and Khalid.
“After 28 months, the verdict of the Appellate Authority establishing the guilt of Khalid, Kumar and others vindicated the stand of the ABVP that heinous, anti-national, secessionist activity took place on February 9, 2016, but the quantum of punishment in all the cases has been disproportionately small and pity,” said Vijay Kumar, president, ABVP, JNU.
The ABVP demanded that the quantum of punishment must be reviewed asserting that it is too less compared to the gravity of the offence.
“After long the process of law has categorically established that anti-India secessionist slogans have been raised which is criminal and anti-Constitutional. However, the quantum of punishment to the criminals and perpetrators of these offences is not proportionate to the nature of crime and its gravity,” said Vijay.