India, New Delhi: Yesterday, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya said, the decision to rusticate them from the varsity was not acceptable and termed as farce the inquiry by a high-level committee even as the students’ union threatened a countrywide campaign on the matter.

Based on the findings of a committee, Umar has been rusticated for one semester and slapped with a fine of Rs 20,000, Anirban has been rusticated till July 15. Apart from being rusticated, Khalid is has also been slapped with a fine of Rs 20,000. Kanhaiya Kumar, the JNU Students’ Union president, Umar and Anirban were arrested on charges of sedition in February after reports that anti-India slogans were raised at the event, held to mark the third anniversary of the execution of Afzal Guru, a convict in the 2001 Parliament attack case.

Terming the decision against them as “unacceptable”, Anirban and Umar alleged the authoritys action amounted to a “witch-hunt” under the “diktats” of RSS. In separate signed orders, the JNU chief proctor said the students were being rusticated and fined by the vice-chancellor in exercise of the powers vested in him under Statute 32 (5) of the statutes of the university. The internal probe committee set up by the university to probe into the infamous JNU Row has found submitted its report. The statement said Khalid, Bhattacharya and Gattoo were found guilty of staging a protest under the pretext of holding a poetry reading of “A Country Without a Post Office”, a collection of the late Agha Shahid Ali, a Kashmiri poet.