The centre has ordered action against Shah Faesal, the outspoken bureaucrat from Jammu and Kashmir, for his tweets that he has described as a “sarcastic tweet against rape-culture in South Asia”. The IAS official went public on Tuesday with the show cause notice and seemed to question the government’s gag order for bureaucrats as well.
The Jammu and Kashmir government initiated disciplinary action against 2010-batch IAS exam topper Faesal for his tweet about frequent rapes which was seen by the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training as his failure to maintain absolute honesty and integrity in the discharge of duties.
“The irony here is that service rules with a colonial spirit are invoked in a democratic India to stifle the freedom of conscience,” he said in a tweet and a Facebook post.
Love letter from my boss for my sarcastic tweet against rape-culture in South Asia.
The Irony here is that service rules with a colonial spirit are invoked in a democratic India to stifle the freedom of conscience.
I’m sharing this to underscore the need for a rule change. pic.twitter.com/ssT8HIKhIK— Shah Faesal (@shahfaesal) July 10, 2018
In a notice to Faesal, the General Administration Department said, “You have allegedly failed to maintain absolute honesty and integrity in the discharge of official duty and thus acted in a manner unbecoming of a public servant. ”
The GAD initiated the disciplinary proceedings at the request of the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training, sources said.
The central government had banned officials from criticising the government on social media in 2016. Under these rules, a statement of fact or an opinion which “has the effect of an adverse criticism” of any current or recent policy or action is treated as criticism.
Back in April when the IAS officer had put out the tweet, Mr Faesal had drawn a sharp reaction from some people who saw the reference to “Rapistan” as a reference to India and a contrast to Pakistan.
Patriarchy+Population+Illiteracy+Alcohol+Porn+Technology+Anarchy = Rapistan!
— Shah Faesal (@shahfaesal) April 22, 2018
Mr Faesal, 35 is the only IAS officer from Jammu and Kashmir to have ever topped the civil services exam. The 2011 batch officer, who has been a role model for the youth and inspired many others to join the civil services, is currently an Edward S Mason Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School on study leave.
Faesal, however, is not the first bureaucrat to face disciplinary action by the Centre. After its 2016 rule that bans officials from criticising the government on social media, a senior Madhya Pradesh bureaucrat Ajay Singh Gangwar was asked to explain his “purported” Facebook post calling for a people’s revolution (jan kranti) against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Gangwar, who was Barwani collector, was transferred to the secretariat in Bhopal by the BJP’s Madhya Pradesh government. “The state government has transferred Barwani Collector Gangwar as Deputy Secretary in the Mantralaya in Bhopal,” a state Public Relation department official had said
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