Student fined ₹10,000 at IIT-Bombay for protest against ‘vegetarian food only policy’

The campus saw controversy erupt after administrators at Hostels 12, 13, and 14 last week reserved six tables in the common mess space for vegetarians

Days after a few students at IIT-Bombay protested against a rule reserving some tables for “vegetarian food only” by eating meat at one of the “reserved” tables, hostel administrators have slapped a penalty of ₹10,000 on one of the protesting students and launched an inquiry to identify two other students it suspected were part of the protest. 

The campus saw controversy erupt after administrators at Hostels 12, 13, and 14 last week reserved six tables in the common mess space for vegetarians, promising action in case anyone flouted it. 

The day after, on Thursday, about four to five students, in protest against segregation of the mess, ate dinner at one of the six “reserved” tables in what they called “individual civil disobedience”. The students who led the protest emailed their respective mess and hostel administrator notifying them about the protest. 

While some students supported the protest, there was opposition from some quarters, who argued for the need to “respect the sentiments of the minority”. Amid shouting and harassment, in the form of being recorded without consent, the protesting students stood their ground, finished their meal, and left. 

On October 1, the Mess Council of the three hostels held an online meeting with the Wardens and Assistant Wardens about complaints regarding the flouting of rules by some students in the mess on September 28. 

While the minutes of this meeting, made public by students on Monday evening, said that it reviewed evidence against a resident of Hostel-12 and held him responsible for “instigating the incident”, it did not mention the nature of evidence. 

The mess council resolved, “This act was a premeditated attempt to disrupt the peace and harmony within the mess, in defiance of the advice provided by the associate dean SA… At least two other individuals were involved, whose identities are yet to be ascertained.”