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A student at a private prep school caught smoking marijuana on the night before the final day of high school — and denied his diploma as punishment — has forced the school to reconsider after taking his plight to court.

Gautam Setia, then 18, celebrated the end of high school with two friends on June 14, 2010. They smoked a small amount of marijuana off campus, court heard, and then Mr. Setia and a friend retired to the friend’s room at the student residence of Appleby College in Oakville, Ont.

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There, the pair smoked the last pinch of marijuana in a bong, a type of pipe using water and tubes, court heard.

At about 11:30 that night, a school official caught the boys with the bong, a lighter, smoke in the air and a fan blowing out towards the window, court heard.

The next day, Mr. Setia wrote his final exam but right afterwards the school’s principal told him he faced expulsion and that nothing he could say could change the decision, court heard.