Following a Delhi High Court order staying his suspension, the student editor of a banned e-zine of St Stephen’s said the entire row was more about muzzling free speech. “The day the magazine was banned by the principal Rev. Valson Thampu, I got to know that I have been selected by Columbia School of Journalism. I then thought that as a journalism aspirant I must respect and value the freedom of speech and expression and that led to the entire row,” said Devansh Mehta, third-year student of philosophy and editor of the e-zine.
Devansh along with three other students started the e-zine, St Stephen’s Weekly, which went live on March 7 and registered over 2,000 hits on an interview of Thampu, following which the principal ordered a ban on the publication for not taking his clearance on the content.
Devansh was suspended from college till April 23 following the report of the inquiry committee of Professor Sanjay Rao Ayde. “The entire fight was not against my suspension from college but also about suspension of the e-zine for not taking clearance on content from the principal. We did take permission from him for starting the e-zine and there wasn’t anything defamatory in the content, then why curb our freedom,” Mehta said.
The Delhi High Court stayed the order of Thampu suspending Devansh for “violating” discipline, asking whether anyone can be suspended for speaking to the media. Thampu’s move had invited criticism from the reputed college’s alumni, including former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi and former Delhi lokayukta Justice (retd) Manmohan Sarin, who had requested the principal to reconsider the decision, terming it as “extreme” and “disproportionate”.
Thampu had appointed a one-man disciplinary committee to look into the matter which, in its report submitted last week, had defended the principal’s action after finding the students guilty of violating the college’s disciplinary norms.
“How ethical is this to have appointed an internal member as the disciplinary committeeIJ If there is some problem in the Congress, will AK Antony examine it or Jaitley willIJ An external member could have conducted the inquiry to ensure an unbiased report,” Devansh told reporters. Scores of students and alumni also staged a protest in Devansh’s support outside the college while the hearing was on in court.