Former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar on Wednesday challenged before the Delhi High Court the legitimacy of a JNU high-level inquiry committee that held him guilty of indiscipline in connection with the February 2016 event on the campus, during which anti-India slogans were allegedly raised.
‘Beyond its ambit’
“I (Kanhaiya) am questioning the legitimacy of the entire process of issuing me the show-cause notice. The high-level inquiry committee’s (HLEC) ambit was only to recommend the initiation of charges, if any. But, it exceeded and recommended punishment without hearing,” Kanhaiya’s counsel said before Justice V. K. Rao.
The counsel also told the court that Kanhaiya was taken to jail on February 12, 2016, in connection with the case and was released on March 3. “They never served me any notice even when I was in jail,” Kanhaiya’s counsel submitted while contending that he had nothing to do with the controversial event.
The committee, meanwhile, had recommended punishment ranging from rustication to ousting from the university hostel.
Panel questioned earlier
Earlier, other students facing action, too, had questioned the committee’s power saying it had not been set up to find someone guilty or punish them.
