St. Stephen’s College principal Valson Thampu was pulled up by the Delhi High Court on Thursday with the judge remarking that his actions of suspending a student, who had started an e-zine, did not conform to how a college principal ought to behave and was entirely lacking in humour.
The Delhi University was also pulled up for its biased role in the entire matter. “Look at the way you are behaving. Is this the way a principal of the college should act? You should have some sense of humour,” said Justice Vibhu Bakhru, while also pulling up the principal for letting the issue even reach the High Court instead of settling it within the college.
The student, Devansh Mehta, had founded an e-zine which was banned after it carried an interview of the principal. His suspension followed soon after he spoke about it to the media. And, then the matter had reached court which stayed the suspension of the student.
It also issued a notice to the principal and barred the college from awarding the prize that was withdrawn from the student to anyone else until the next date of hearing, which was on Thursday.
DU on Thursday, also earned some severe criticism for claiming that the student was partially guilty since he had not denied any of the charges against him. The Court was very clear that the university’s actions did not inspire any confidence.
Both the college and the student were told to resolve the matter among themselves, while the court also suggesting that the principal would do well to rescind his decision.
Court says suspension of student who had started an e-zine did not conform to how a college principal should behave
