The 21 students of Jawaharlal Nehru University who were served show-cause notices for their role in the controversial February 9 protests on campus said on Wednesday that they will not accept the report of the panel instituted to look into the event. The JNU Students’ Council took the decision late on Wednesday night.

“The inquiry report is based on an unfair probe process and hence, we refused to accept its findings... Our replies to the show-cause notice will be sent accordingly," a member of the council said, according to PTI. JNU Students' Union President Kanhaiya Kumar and prominent student activists Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya were among those mentioned in the committee's report.

The students were issued the notices on Monday asking why action should not be taken against them after the high-level committee found they had “violated university rules” during the protest against the hanging of Parliament attacks convict Afzal Guru. Earlier in the day, the university had extended the deadline for replying to the notices to Friday after students said they needed more time to speak to legal representatives.

The five-member inquiry committee was formed on February 10, a day after the protests, which sparked a nationwide controversy.