Devansh Mehta, editor and co-founder of online magazine 'St Stephen's Weekly', on Thursday moved the Delhi High Court against the college and its principal Valson Thampu, challenging his suspension and banning of the magazine's publication.
On April 15, Mehta was suspended till April 23 after a one-man inquiry committee appointed by the St Stephen's principal found him guilty of "breach of discipline".
Mehta, a third-year philosophy student, was allegedly suspended for launching the online magazine.
Last month, the college banned the e-zine started by Mehta and other students over an interview of 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.
Filing the petition, Mehta called the ban "arbitrary, illegal, malafide and shockingly unreasonable".
"The main malicious accusations against the petitioner (Mehta) in this case are twofold - that of publishing an online magazine without taking prior approval from the principal and subsequently conveying the news of the proscription of this magazine, to the media," said the plea.
Mehta sought "quashing of the order banning/suspending publication of the St Stephen's Weekly, stay on the suspension order and restraining the principal from taking any further action against him".
Mehta has also requested in his petition 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.
In an e-mail last month, Thampu said: "It is unacceptable that, despite being explicitly told not to publish anything (especially my interview before I had the time to go through and clear the text) you went ahead in defiance. It denotes an awkward failure of education and that is why I cannot take it lightly."
