• Source:JND
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Students have raised the issue of 'food discrimination' at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) after 'vegetarians only' posters were seen on the walls of a canteen in one of the hostels, PTI cited a student as saying.

A picture of the "vegetarians only are allowed to sit here" posters that were placed on the walls of Hostel 12 canteen last week quickly went viral on social media.

Speaking about the incident, an official claimed that they had found the posters, though, they don't know anything about who put it there. He also added that there are no fixed seats for people consuming different categories of food and the institute is unaware about who put up the posters, according to the news agency PTI.

Representatives of the student collective Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) condemned the incident and tore the posters.

"Though RTIs and emails to the hostel's general secretary revealed that there is no policy for food segregation at the institute, some individuals have taken it upon themselves to designate certain mess areas as ‘vegetarians only' and force other students to leave that area," the AAPSC said.

Soon after the incident, an email was sent to all the students by the hostel's general secretary saying, "There is a counter for Jain distribution in the hostel's mess, but there is no designated sitting space for those who consume Jain food." The general secretary reported instances in which individuals allegedly forcibly marked specific portions of the mess as "Jain sitting space" and prohibited people who brought non-vegetarian food from sitting in those places.

"Such behaviour is unacceptable and no student has the right to remove another student from any area of the mess on the grounds that it is reserved for a particular community. If any such incident is repeated, we will be forced to take strict action against those involved," he stated in the email.

(With inputs from agency)