The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) has reiterated its anti-discrimination guidelines, advising students, faculty members, and staff against asking peers about their caste, admission category, or entrance examination ranks. The directives were circulated via an email from the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs, stating that inquiries regarding a student's caste, birth details, admission category, JEE Advanced rank, or GATE score can create conscious or subconscious bias and adversely affect individuals.
The communication noted that while such questions might stem from mere curiosity and seem innocent to the person asking, they can frequently have a negative impact on the recipient. The institute emphasized that even well-intentioned queries can be perceived as attempts to uncover a student's caste background, urging the campus community instead to foster relationships based on shared interests such as academics, sports, music, hobbies, and hometowns.
Highlighting its dedication to institutional fairness, IIT Bombay reaffirmed its commitment to implementing the constitutional reservation policy in both letter and spirit while guaranteeing equal opportunities for all students, regardless of their caste, religion, or socio-economic background.
In addition to restricting personal inquiries, the updated guidelines explicitly prohibit the distribution of abusive, hateful, casteist, or sexist messages, alongside any content that promotes religious prejudice or discrimination based on sexual orientation. The administration warned that engaging in such behavior, whether conducted online or in person, could result in formal disciplinary action.