Hyderabad, April 24: State Committee of Students’ Federation of India on Tuesday demanded that the government take stringent action against those responsible for caste discrimination in the hostels of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Anantapur.

In a memorandum presented to the Governor C Rangarajan here, State SFI secretary R Arun Kumar, joint secretaries N Satish Kumar and G Mamatha sought protection of the rights of Dalits and backward class students. They also asked the State to direct the JNTU administration to allot hostels to students irrespective of caste.

JNTU Engineering College, Anantapur, had separate hostels for SCs, STs, BCs and other castes, they alleged and added that the SC, ST and BC students were not allowed to sit in the front rows in their classes in Siddhartha Engineering College, Vijayawada.

Unable to bear the harassment of upper caste students, Sunanda of Maitri College, Nalgonda had committed suicide, they said.