IANS/New Delhi

The Delhi High Court yesterday put on hold the suspension of St Stephen’s student Devansh Mehta, editor and co-founder of online magazine ‘St Stephen’s Weekly’, after he approached the court challenging the college’s move.
On April 15, Mehta was suspended till April 23 after a one-man inquiry committee appointed by St Stephen’s principal Valson Thampu found him guilty of “breach of discipline”.
Justice Vibhu Bakhru issued notice to Delhi University, St Stephen’s College, Thampu and professor Sanjay Rao Ayde, who conducted the inquiry, and asked them to file their response by May 21. Mehta, a third-year philosophy student, was allegedly suspended for launching the online magazine.
During the hearing, Mehta’s counsel requested the court that he be awarded the Rai Saheb Banarsi Das Memorial Prize, for which he was earlier selected by the college. He was dropped from the list in the wake of the controversy.
The court, however, said the award, for which Mehta was selected, should not be given to any other student till the next date of hearing. “We can’t strip someone off the award,” Justice Bakhru said. The award was to be given today.
Meanwhile, the court also asked the Delhi University to act “impartially” as it has to play “important role” in the case.
The university counsel told the court that to some extent the student was guilty and he has not even denied the charges.
“The charges are he spoke to the media. Will you (DU or college) suspend the student for this?” asked the court.
Last month, the college banned the e-zine magazine started by Mehta and other students over an interview with the principal, which, he said, had not been cleared.
The e-zine went live on March 7 and registered over 2,000 hits on the interview. The online magazine was taken down on March 12 and the domain name now leads to a dead link.

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