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India 'sedition' students suspended | India 'sedition' students suspended |
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Two Indian students accused of sedition for helping organise a protest at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University have been suspended. | |
Umar Khalid has been suspended for one semester and Anirban Bhattacharya has been barred from campus for five years. | |
Both students, and student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who was also charged with sedition, have also been fined. | |
The three students were involved in a protest, on 9 February, over the hanging of a Kashmiri man, Afzal Guru. | |
Afzal Guru was convicted of a 2001 plot to attack India's parliament, charges he always denied. The attack, in which 14 people died, was carried out by Kashmiri militants. | |
His hanging in 2013 sparked protests in Kashmir, and he was seen as a martyr and a symbol of perceived injustice. | |
On 9 February, students at JNU held a demonstration to mark his execution. There were allegations that anti-India slogans were chanted at the protest. | |
Mr Kumar was arrested, while Mr Khalid and Mr Bhattacharya went missing but later handed themselves over to the police. All three were accused of sedition. | |
The arrests of the students led to protests and clashes across India. | |
Critics condemned the charges as an assault on freedom of expression, but government ministers refused to back down, vowing to punish what they described as "anti-national elements". | |
In addition to being suspended from classes, Mr Khalid and Mr Bhattacharya have been fined 20,000 rupees ($299; £206) each. | |
Mr Kumar has been fined 10,000 rupees. | |
Reports say that Mr Khalid and Mr Bhattacharya have been blamed for "triggering communal violence" and "disrupting" harmony on the campus. Mr Kumar was found guilty of indiscipline and misconduct. | Reports say that Mr Khalid and Mr Bhattacharya have been blamed for "triggering communal violence" and "disrupting" harmony on the campus. Mr Kumar was found guilty of indiscipline and misconduct. |
Mr Bhattacharya said the punishment was "unacceptable", and described it as a "fascist witch-hunt of student activists by the administration". | Mr Bhattacharya said the punishment was "unacceptable", and described it as a "fascist witch-hunt of student activists by the administration". |