Kasganj violence: Bareilly DM set to face action for Facebook post

District magistrate of Bareilly Raghvendra Vikram Singh will be asked to reply to the charges framed against him within a time frame that will be specified in the charge sheet and the quantum of punishment will be determined only after the reply.

The state government is all set to initiate disciplinary proceedings against district magistrate of Bareilly Raghvendra Vikram Singh for his controversial Facebook post that came amid communal violence in Kasganj recently.

A group of people set a bus on fire after a young man was killed during the Tiranga bike rally, in Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh, last month. (PTI File Photo)

“Finding him prima facie guilty of misconduct as a public servant on the basis of the divisional commissioner’s report, the government has decided to take departmental action against Singh and a charge sheet will be served on him in a day or two,” a senior official dealing with the matter disclosed.

Departmental action, according to sources, is a wider term that may mean anything right from an adverse entry into the concerning public servant’s character roll or to suspension.

“The DM will be asked to reply to the charges framed against him within a time frame that will be specified in the charge sheet and the quantum of punishment will be determined only after the reply,” sources said.

A 2005 batch promotee IAS officer, Singh’s FB comment, posted two days after a youth was killed during a ‘tiranga yatra’ in Kasganj on January 26, had created a flutter in the social and political circles. “This has become a trend to enter a Muslim-dominated area and raise anti-Pakistan slogans,” he had said in the post.

The post had gone viral on social media, drawing government’s attention and prompting the department of Appointment and Personnel to seek a report from Bareilly divisional commissioner within 24 hours.