JNU row: Delhi court extends custody of Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday extended the judicial custody of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, who have been accused of raising anti-national slogans in the varsity campus on February 9.
Meanwhile, the posters demanding release of Bhattacharya and Khalid were seen across the JNU campus. The students raised slogans supporting the duo and carried out a march in the varsity campus.
Earlier, a high-level internal committee of the JNU had found 21 students guilty of holding a controversial event on the campus last month, which had led to the custody of JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar and others.
The committee has reportedly suggested that Kanhaiya, along with four other students, be rusticated from the varsity. Kanhaiya, however, said that there was no mention of rustication in the report submitted by the panel.
"I have been issued a showcause notice, which doesn't have any mention of rustication. I have been asked to respond by 5 p.m. tomorrow," he said.
The committee, in its unanimous report submitted to Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar, accused the students of violating university norms and rules by organising an event in the memory of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
The office of JNU's chief proctor would take further action by issuing showcause notices to the concerned students, including Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya. Earlier last week, the varsity had revoked the suspension of eight students after the high-level probe panel submitted its report on the February 9 incident.
Apart from Kanhaiya, the eight suspended students include Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya, Ashutosh, Rama Naga, Anant Kumar, Shweta Raj and Aishwarya Adhikari. They were suspended on February 12 for their alleged involvement in organising an event to protest the hanging of the 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on his third death anniversary.
