JNU Refuses to Accept Umar Khalid’s PhD Thesis, Defies HC Order

File image of Umar Khalid.

(Photo: The Quint)

Student activist Umar Khalid on Monday, 23 July, claimed that the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration refused to unblock the process required to submit his PhD thesis.

23 July was the last day to submit the PhD thesis in JNU.

The university reportedly cited non-compliance to the punishments passed by its high level enquiry committee, in connection with the 2016 sedition row, as the reason.

WHAT UMAR KHALID DID NEXT

Khalid moved Delhi High Court, which ordered that the administration cannot take any action against him, until further orders.

I have worked on this thesis for five years. When they did not accept the thesis, I moved the high court again. I am confident that the court will rule in our favour.

Umar Khalid to <b>The Quint</b>

WHY DID HE MOVE HC EARLIER

Delhi High Court issued a notice to the JNU on 19 July on a plea filed by student activist Umar Khalid after his expulsion was upheld by the varsity in connection with the February 2016 campus event over Afzal Guru’s hanging.

The Delhi High Court has directed JNU to not take any coercive action against Khalid, as per ANI.

THE BACKDROP

The JNU’s high-level inquiry committee has upheld the expulsion of Umar Khalid and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Kanhaiya Kumar over the Afzal Guru event. A financial penalty was also imposed on 13 other students for violating the disciplinary norms.

Following the imposition of the penalty, the students had then approached the Delhi High Court.

FLASHBACK TO 2016

A nationwide row erupted after JNU students organised an event in solidarity with Afzal Guru – a convict in the 2001 Parliament attack who received death penalty.

Umar Khalid, Kanhaiya Kumar and Anirban Bhattacharya were charged with sedition and arrested in connection with the campus event, which led to massive agitation. Kumar, Khalid and Bhattacharya are out on bail.

Following the event, a JNU panel had recommended the expulsion of Khalid and two other students and slapped a hefty fine on Kumar, the then student’s union president.