The Naga Students’ Union of Delhi on Friday accused St. Stephen’s College of discriminating against Scheduled Tribe Christian students. The group said that higher cut-offs had been announced for ST applicants as compared to Christian students from other groups.
In a letter to the principal, the union said: “It is evident that there is high discrimination against students falling under Christian ST category where the cut-off marks have been kept much higher than the other Christian groups (other than Church of North India)”.
The group cited cut-offs for BA programme, for which the percentage requirement for Christians Others (COTH) was 88% but 96% for Christian ST (CST).
For BA Economics, the cut-off for COTHs is 91.75% but 93.75% for CSTs. For B.Sc programme, COTHs need 81.66% while CSTs need 90%. For all courses at St. Stephen’s College , the cut-offs for CSTs are either higher or the same as COTHs, said the students’ union.
“There is no rationality on how Christian ST and Christian Others differ as far as the teaching of Christianity is concerned,” the group said, adding that the difference in cut-offs was a violation of their constitutional rights.
“It also violates the ethics of the college and Christianity, by dividing the Christian community into different groups,” it added.
Call for intervention
Most applicants under the CST category are likely to fall under the general or OBC category and are otherwise at an advantage with regard to their social status. Terming the cut-offs “total injustice” and “discrimination towards Christian tribals”, the group has called upon the principal to intervene in the matter. College officials were unreachable for a comment.
