Chhattisgarh CM Baghel transfers senior IAS officer seen on video slapping man

Ranbir Sharma, the collector of Surajpur district, has been attached to the state secretariat as a joint secretary. Gaurav Kumar Singh has been appointed as the new district collector of Surajpur.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday transferred a senior IAS officer seen on a video slapping a man, and throwing his phone on the ground for allegedly violating safety norms during the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown, in Surajpur district.

A screengrab of the incident (ANI)

"An incident of Surajpur district collector Ranbir Sharma misbehaving with a young man has been brought to my attention by social media. This is extremely unfortunate and condemnable. No such incident shall be tolerated in Chhattisgarh. Have given instructions to remove collector Ranbir Sharma with immediate effect," a rough translation of Baghel's tweet, posted in Hindi, read.

"Misbehaviour by an official is unacceptable. I regret this incident," the chief minister added.

The Chhattisgarh government issued orders, appointing Raipur district panchayat's chief executive officer, Gaurav Kumar Singh, the new collector of Surajpur.

The IAS Association also condemned the incident, tweeting: "We strongly condemn the behaviour of collector Surajpur, Chhattisgarh. It is unacceptable and against the basic tenets of the service and civility. Civil servants must have empathy and provide a healing touch to society at all times, more so in these difficult times."

After the video of the incident went viral, evoking widespread anger against the official, Sharma apologised, saying in a statement that he never had any intention to "disrespect or belittle the person in the video." Claiming to be a Covid-19 survivor himself, and that his mother was still battling the infection, Sharma accused the man of overspeeding and misbehaving with officials.

He also said that contrary to media reports, the man is not a minor, and is, in fact, 23-years-old.