After the suicide of a Dalit B. Tech. student shook up the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay with allegations of widespread caste discrimination early this year, the institute is publicising its anti-discrimination policy, which now specifically includes triggers and don’ts for caste discrimination, with the Dean of Student Affairs sending out the guidelines to everyone on campus in an email on July 31.
The institute is expecting its fresh batch of undergraduates and postgraduates in the coming weeks.
Less than six months ago, the death of 18-year-old Darshan Solanki from Gujarat, a Dalit student at IIT-Bombay, led to allegations of caste discrimination on campus. This eventually led to the disclosure of results from a two-year old survey conducted by the institute, which showed widespread caste discrimination.
Since then, the institute’s Schedule Castes/Schedule Tribes Cell has formulated guidelines against caste discrimination on campus. These include disallowing students from asking each other their Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) (Advanced) or Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) entry categories; suggests students bond over where they were from, and mutual interests such as music, movies and sports; and prohibits the spreading of casteist, sexist, or hateful messages or jokes.
However, the guidelines do not specifically prohibit the circulation of jokes that are anti-reservation, something students have said is among the most common ways of being discriminated against, according to the institute’s own survey.
Despite the institute putting up these guidelines in public, which has been done in IIT-Bombay for the first time, according to some students, student groups have alleged instances of casteism occurring in hostels.
Two weeks ago, there were photos of a space in the mess of Hostel 12 being marked ‘Vegetarian only’, when the institute has no policy for segregating spaces in the mess. Students said this was linked to the notion of vegetarianism being connected to “purity” and was thus casteist.
Shortly afterward, the general secretary of the hostel mess wrote to students denouncing the segregation in the mess and reminding students that while Jain food (following the dietary principles of Jainism) was cooked and served at a different counter, no space in the mess could be reserved or seek to exclude anyone.
But even as the Dean on Monday circulated the guidelines, which promise “severe punishment” for any violations, students of the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle pointed to other worries.
“The SC/ST Cell does not have a mandate yet, such as the one IIT-Delhi passed earlier this year. There is also no public record of what the grievance redressal procedure for complaints will be like,” a student said.
Those who require assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts may contact Aasra (022-27546669) or the Vandrevala Foundation (18602662345/18002333330).
