‘Full of lies’: APPSC alleges IIT-B dean’s mail on hostel mess controversy spreads misinformation

NEW DELHI: Days after the students of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) protested against the “veg-only” spaces marked in the common mess of hostel 12, 13 and 14, the dean of student affairs in a mail today requested the wardens of the hostels to suggest ways to resolve the conflict. It said that such “provocative and insensitive actions” are not acceptable. The students’ group alleged that the mail is “full of misinformation and lies”.

In response to the mail, the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) in a statement said “terming a peaceful protest by a few students as a "conflict" is “unfortunate.”

The dean said, "There were some reports of conflict regarding the decision of earmarking a few separate tables, 6 out of a total 129 tables, for people who eat vegetarian food was taken by the student council of hostel 12, 13 and 14." The student council is an elected decision making body of the respective hostel.

The mail sent by Surya Doolla Dean SA and Atul Srivastava assistant dean student affairs on Thursday said that the institute does not have separate vegetarian mess and “does not plan to have one in the future”.

IIT Bombay mess controversy

It also informed that a student had objected to the decision and indicated that he will go on protest by sitting in the “veg-only” space with non-vegetarian food. The dean said that a “reply was sent immediately asking the student not to indulge in such activity” and to wait for a formal meeting the following week.

“Despite this the student went ahead with two other students and ate non-veg food in the place designated for eating vegetarian food leading to a conflict,” he said.

Calling it an “unfortunate misinformation”, the APPSC said that the student who registered the protest has been in communication with the Dean office since July. “Trying to portray his decision as taken in haste is again an unfortunate misinformation. This also might affect the mental well being of the student and result in him being individually targeted,” the students group said.

The student who protested silently was slapped with a fine of Rs 10,000 on October 1.

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Two narratives

“In addition, there were reports of some students deliberately spilling over non-veg food to cause discomfort to fellow students. Such provocative and insensitive actions are not acceptable,” the mail read. Terming this as “the most unfortunate lie” in the email, the students claimed that such an incident never happened.

Dismissing the allegation, it said, “Some APPSC members, security guards and many other students were present when this protest happened. Moreover there are CCTV cameras in the mess. The protest was carried out peacefully and no such thing has happened,” it said in the statement.

The issue started in July this year after students found “vegetarians only” posters in the mess. Stating the same, the APPSC asked, “Was this act not one to promote disharmony? What are the penalties for those students? Were there any attempts to hold the mess council or wardens accountable for the anxiety and tensions spread by these posters among the student community, especially the marginalized students community?”

The APPSC said that students who took non-vegetarian food even “by mistake to that specific area, were harassed, recorded and humiliated by groups of students”. It also said that despite informing the dean’s office about those conflicts the issue was not resolved.

Further, it said: “The mess council that imposed the fine has 4 faculties and 3 students: how is it an elected body? The council also acts under the direct supervision of Associate Dean SA. It is very much clear that the decision to reserve 6 tables for "veg-only" had Dean's approval, especially because it followed reports of actual "conflicts”."

The dean, in the mail, asked the respective hostel wardens to look into the issue. In the interim, it warned students that any form of “indiscipline leading to disruption of harmony in the hostel will not be tolerated”.