Umar Khalid Removed For A Semester By JNU, Kanhaiya Kumar Fined

New Delhi: Umar Khalid, the student charged with sedition along with Kanhaiya Kumar, has been suspended for a semester by the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for "indiscipline".

Two more students have been removed for two semesters.

Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar have been fined Rs 20,000 and 10,000 on the recommendation of a university panel that investigated their role in a controversial on campus event in support of terrorist Afzal Guru.

Calling the action "simply unacceptable", Mr Kumar tweeted: "JNUSU rejects the punishment handed down by the administration on the basis of a farcical committee!"

Mr Khalid posted on Facebook, "A farce is what this inquiry has been from day one, made to witch-hunt and punish students by hook or crook. Do we need to remind you, Mr Jagdish Kumar (JNU VC) that unlike you the students and teachers of this campus are not pliant stooges of the RSS."

The students were arrested days after the event held on February 9 to mark the anniversary of the 2013 hanging of Afzal Guru, during which controversial slogans were raised. They were released on bail a few weeks later.

Anirban Bhattacharya, the third student arrested on the same charge, has been barred from pursuing any course in JNU for the next five years.
 
The university has accused the students of "arousing communal caste feelings, creating disharmony and colluding in the unauthorized entry of outsiders".

The arrests triggered angry student protests in different parts of the country and pitted the government against opposition parties who alleged a blatant attempt by the ruling BJP to crush dissent and free speech on campuses.

The row intensified after it emerged that the Delhi police had wrongly declared that it had video evidence of Kanhaiya Kumar making incendiary remarks against India. It was later alleged that the slogans were raised by "outsiders".

After his release in March, Mr Kumar made a forceful speech in which he called for "Azaadi" (freedom) within India. In the past few weeks, he has toured universities where he has repeatedly attacked the government for what he describes as its divisive policies.

On Sunday, the 28-year-old was deplaned from a Mumbai-Pune flight after he alleged that a co-passenger, Manas Deka, tried to strangle him. Mr Kumar alleged that Mr Deka, who works with IT-major TCS, is a BJP supporter and when he complained, the airline took no action but deplaned both of them.