No mention of rustication of students in JNU panel report

The high-level inquiry committee set by JNU to probe the controversial event of February 9 has not recommended rustication of five students including students union chief Kanhaiya Kumar, for their alleged involvement in the event in which anti-national slogans allegedly raised. However, it has rapped the organisers.

The inquiry committee has said in its report that students have been charged on Category II clauses of "misconduct and indiscipline".

There were reports in a section of media on Monday that the panel had recommended rustication of five students including Jawaharlal Nehru Union Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar apart from its students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya.

However, according to university statute 32(5) (rules of discipline and proper conduct of students of JNU), the violation of Category II clauses of "misconduct and indiscipline" could amount to fine up to Rs.20,000; admonition/reprimand; recovery of any kind such as scholarship/fellowships, any dues, cost of damages etc; withdrawal of all or any facilities or all facilties available to a student; stoppage of any or all academic processes; and rustication up to two semesters.

The panel however hasn't recommended any of these penalties and these will be decided by the chief proctor and vice-chancellor after the final deposition of the students by March 18.

The report, accessed by IANS, mentions that the five-member committee has found that acts of indiscipline were committed and certain norms of conduct violated by the organisers of the event.

"Taking all the relevant points together, there was a deliberate attempt to mislead the administration about the real nature of the proposed event," it said.

"The organisers disobeyed the instructions from the administration about not holding the event. This amounts to willful defiance. This act of indiscipline if it had further escalated could have led to a law and order situation," it further stated.

The high level enquiry committee, which comprises Professor Rakesh Bhatnagar, Professor H.B. Bohidar, Professor Suman. K Dhar, Professor G.J.V Prasad, and Professor Ummu Salma Bava, was constituted by the vice chancellor.

The report further said that the act by "outsider group" has brought disrepute to the entire JNU community. It also said that none of the JNUSU office bearers (Kanhaiya Kumar, vice president Shehla Rashid, general secretary Rama Naga and joint secretary Saurabh Sharma) acted with due responsibility.

It noted that "the (JNUSU) office bearers had to behave with even more restraint and caution befitting the position that they hold. They need to rise above politics and other difference as they represent the student community of the University and this point needs to be reiterated here in their conduct that should be exemplary".

Kanhaiya Kumar along with Naga and students Anant Prakash Narayan, Anirban Bhattacharya, Ashutosh, Umar Khalid, Ashwarya Adhikari and Shwetha Raj were suspended on February 12.

However, the administration last week revoked the suspension of all eight after the committee submitted its report on the February 9 incident on the campus wherein anti-national slogans were raised.