On 9 February 2016, some students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) held a protest on their campus against the capital punishment meted out to the 2001 Indian Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, and Kashmiri separatist Maqbool Bhat. The organisers of the event were former members of the Democratic Students' Union (DSU). The event was held despite the university administrations withdrawing permission for the event shortly before it was due to begin, due to protests by members of the student union of ABVP.[1][2] The event saw clashes between various student groups.[3] A video was circulated by an Indian news channel, Zee News, in which a small group of individuals, whom a later university-investigation described as outsiders to the university wearing masks, shouted "anti-India" slogans.[4]
Four days after the event, the then-President of the JNU Students' Union, Kanhaiya Kumar, was arrested by the Delhi Police and charged with sedition.[5] Two other students were arrested soon afterwards, including Umar Khalid. Thousands of students, faculty, and staff protested the arrest at JNU, and classes at the university were stopped for several days.[6] The arrest was also criticized by a number of prominent scholars internationally.[7][8] Protests against the arrests were held in the University of Delhi, Jadavpur University,[9] Osmania University,[10] Aligarh Muslim University,[11] Panjab University,[12] and the University of Kerala.
Investigations into the incident were carried out by the Delhi government and the university administration. Both found that the controversial slogans had been shouted by outsiders at the university. The arrested students were all granted bail,[13] with the judge noting in one case that there was some evidence of the accused shouting slogans. However, the university inquiry found many students to have violated university rules and enacted sanctions, varying from fines to rustication, on 21 students.[14] In response, twenty-five students went on an indefinite hunger strike.[15] The Delhi High Court suspended the enactment of the university sanctions till their appeals were decided by an appellate authority within six weeks of hearing the students on the condition that they end their strike.[16][17]
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