The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), an independent student body of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, has pointed out that a few students are allegedly indulging in food-based casteism in the hostels of the institute. The students are designating certain areas of the mess as "vegetarians only" and disallowing other students from sitting there.

According to an APPSC member, such practices have been prevalent across all IIT campuses. However, posters stating a particular area was for vegetarians only came up at IIT Bombay. A few students found this offensive and labelled the act as casteism. They had filed an RTI in November last year, asking IIT Bombay to clarify if this was a move by the institute. However, on December 19, 2022, IIT Bombay replied that there were no such rules on separate eating spaces.

Students then came to the conclusion that the posters were made by a few fellow students. Then they intimated the general secretary of the hostels about the matter through an email. In his reply, the secretary mentioned that students were meant to eat together and such acts would be punished. But even then, the situation did not improve.

"Even though RTIs and emails for hostel GSec shows that there is no institute policy for food segregation, some individuals have taken it upon themselves to designate certain mess areas as "Vegetarians Only" and forcing other students to leave that area," reads a tweet by APPSC on July 29.