J-K bureaucrat Shah Faesal faces Centre's ire over tweet on rape

The Jammu and Kashmir government has initiated disciplinary action against 2010-batch IAS exam topper Shah 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 discharge of duties.

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.

Faesal had posted a tweet saying, “Population +patriarchy +illiteracy +alcohol +porn +technology +anarchy = rapistan.”

This post drew the ire of the DoPT.

The IAS officer, who is currently pursuing a mid-career masters programme in the United States, brushed aside the notice.

“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,” Faesal wrote on his Twitter handle while posting the copy of the notice with it.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah commenting on the issue said the DoPT seemed to be determined to chase Faesal out of civil service.

“Looks like the DOPT is determined to chase @shahfaesal out of the civil services. The last line of this page is shocking & unacceptable where they question Faesal’s “integrity & honesty”. How is a sarcastic tweet dishonest? How does it make him corrupt?” he asked in a tweet.