A high-level committee set up to look into the controversial protests at Jawaharlal Nehru University last month has recommended that Students' Union President Kanhaiya Kumar, prominent student activists Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, and two others be rusticated for their involvement in the agitation, PTI reported. The five-member inquiry committee was formed on February 10, a day after students raised slogans against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

The PTI report quoted unnamed officials as saying that the final decision will be taken by Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar and Chief Proctor A Dimri. The vice chancellor chaired a meeting on Monday to discuss the committee's report, which said that 21 students were guilty of violating college norms during the Afzal Guru event. The university subsequently issued show cause notices to all 21 students, which included Kanhaiya Kumar and Khalid.

On Friday, JNU authorities had cancelled the suspension of Kanhaiya Kumar and seven others, and said they would take further action based on the committee's findings. The protests at JNU sparked outrage in some, solidarity for the students in others and a host of legal tangles. Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested and then released on interim bail after he was charged with sedition. Khalid and Bhattacharya were handed the same charge and are still in jail.