A St Stephen’s College inquiry found founders of the student weekly guilty of going online without getting approval of principal Valsom Thampu. However, the college has stopped short of taking disciplinary action.
The students who helped found the digital newspaper, called the Stephen’s Weekly, have been indicted of ‘undermining the understanding with the principal’.
The one-member inquiry committee constituted by the college observed that there was “no ambiguity” that the students would publish the digital newspaper with the consent of the principal.
Valson Thampu had earlier suspended the student-run website for allegedly not following his instructions and publishing the weekly without waiting for his consent.
The publication went online on March 5, and contained news reports about college events, a play review and an interview with the college principal.
It also featured an article on the history of campus jokes and pranks played over the years.
In its report on April 9, the inquiry committee said, “The co-founders clearly undermined the understanding and published the weekly without the consent of the principal. This was a case of breach of trust and procedural lapse on the part of the co-founders.”
It said that one of the co-founders Devansh Mehta chose to mobilise “the media without exploring the possibility of resolving the issue within the college”.
However, the students are now contemplating to go to Court to seek redressal, in case the college decides to take disciplinary action against him.
“It is paradoxical that on one hand, Devansh is being considered for the Rai Saheb Banarsi Das Memorial prize, given to an undergraduate student of Philosophy or Economics for high standard of personal achievement, and on the other hand, he is being accused like this. If he is punished unfairly, we will go to Court,” Sunil Mathews, the student’s lawyer said.
But the principal sounded tough in his statement put out on the college website.
“This (the inquiry) had become necessary as a twisted and distorted version was splashed on the media in an utterly one-sided fashion,” he said.