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JNU row: Internal inquiry finds Umar, Anirban guilty on four counts
The Jawaharlal Nehru University internal inquiry committee has found Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya guilty on at least four charges, including furnishing false certificates and information to the university.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University internal inquiry committee has found Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya guilty on at least four charges, including furnishing false certificates and information to the university.
In a show cause notice sent to Bhattacharya, the committee stated that he was guilty of “arousing communal, caste or regional feeling or creating disharmony among students”.
Sources said that Khalid was also found guilty on similar charges.
A copy of the show cause notice sent to Bhattacharya through the deputy inspector general (prison), Tihar Jail, is with Hindustan Times.
According to the notice, “furnishing false certificates and information in any manner to the university” is one of the counts on which they have been found guilty. Sources said that there were allegations that permission for the February 9th event was taken by giving false and incomplete information.
“Causing or colluding in the unauthorised entry of any person into the campus or in the unauthorised occupation of any portion of the University premises, including hall of residences, by any person,” were further listed in the notice sent to Bhattacharya.
The committee was looking into the controversial event on February 9 that took place at the JNU campus in which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised by students. JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy; he was released on an interim bail almost a month later. Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya who were arrested later, are still in judicial custody. The issue also became a political flashpoint between the ruling BJP and opposition, raising heated arguments in the Parliamentary session.
The university sent show cause notices to 21 students, including Kumar, general secretary Rama Naga and former JNUSU vice-president Anant Narayan on Monday, and sought a reply by Wednesday.
