Tweet lands IAS topper in trouble: JK govt says it's against service rules

Samaan Lateef

Tribune news service

Srinagar, July 10

The Jammu and Kashmir Government has sent a notice to the 2009 IAS topper, Shah Faesal, over his tweets which it termed were against service conduct rules. It has  asked him to explain his stand within 15 days, failing which action will be taken against him as per rules.

“Patriarchy + Population + Illiteracy + Alcohol + Porn + Technology + Anarchy = Rapistan,” Faesal had tweeted on April 22, referring to the frequent rapes or sexual harassment of women across India.

The Centre asked the J&K Government to initiate action against the IAS officer, who is on a study leave to Harvard. 

Reacting, Faesal tweeted: “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.”

Talking to The Tribune over phone, the IAS officer said, “I see this notice as a case of bureaucratic over-enthusiasm where people who are pushing the files at the top don’t understand the spirit of the times we are living in.”

He added, “I think we need to understand that government employees live in society and they can’t stay completely detached from the moral questions. A ban on their freedom of speech and expression is totally unacceptable.”

Faesal was MD of J&K Power Development Corporation.