JNU's Umer Khalid to approach court on rustication

Umer Khalid, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) research scholar who was rusticated along with two others from the campus for one semester, has said that he will approach the court against the decision of the JNU's inquiry committee.

The high-level committee, which Khalid described as 'drama', had also imposed a fine on the former JNU Students' Union President and CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar regarding the Feb 9, 2016 incident.

Terming the JNU administration as 'running the orders of ruling BJP and RSS,' Khalid said it was an "enquiry that was prejudiced against us from day one"

"The court has repeatedly found faults with the enquiry process and have vindicated our apprehensions. This is the third time in the last two years that the administration has come up with a 'rustication' order against me in this case - an order that has been twice set aside by the courts. We once again reject this farce of an enquiry along with its findings and verdict. "

He also that the order is issued "just two weeks before the deadline of our final submission" of the PhD thesis.

Neither Shehla Rashid nor Kanhaiya Kumar, the JNUSU leaders who lead the agitation inside the campus following the ruckus, has issued a statement on the latest developments.

In another tweet, Khalid mocked the administration questioning the rustication of Anirban Bhattacharya. "Just got to know that Anirban has also been rusticated from JNU for a semester from July 2018-Jan 2019. Now, the fun part is he ceased to be a JNU student in 2016. How do u rusticate a person who has already left? Put him on a time machine? Such a High Level farce, this enquiry."

Though he is rusticated, Khalid got his first research paper published in 'The Social Scientist' journal. "Sanghis, since you have often asked me when do I study, I shall look forward to your feedback!," he tweeted.

On the anniversary of the hanging of Afzal Guru, a group of JNU students had protested against the hanging. Following this, the Delhi police had arrested and charged Kanhaiya and others with sedition which snowballed into a nation-wide protest. Kanhaiya spent six months in jail.