New Delhi: A video of Ayush Sinha, an IAS officer of the Haryana cadre, has been gone viral on social media since yesterday for allegedly instructing policemen to beat protesting farmers and not allow anyone to breach the cordon.
Sinha, a 2018-batch IAS officer, is posted as a sub-divisional magistrate in the Karnal district. Police lathi-charged protesting farmers — 10 were injured — as they tried to break up the first security checkpoint of a BJP meeting attended by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
In the video, Sinha is heard saying, “Utha ke maarna peeche sabko. Main duty magistrate hun, likhit mein bata raha hun deta hun ki seedhe lath maarna. Kisi nirdesh ki koi zaroorat nahin, zor se maarna hai. Yadi main ek bhi pradarshankari ko yahan dekhun to uska sir foota hona chhaiye, koi shaq?” (“Just give them a beating. I’m the duty magistrate, there is no need for formal instructions, just beat them hard. If I see any demonstrator here, he should have a broken head. Any doubt?”)
The policemen are heard saying ‘No sir’ in response to Sinha’s instructions.
In an interview with the Indian Express, Sinha has called the video doctored. “Only a selected portion about the lathi charge was made viral on social media platforms… only a selected portion of my briefing was leaked,” he told the newspaper.
ThePrint tried reaching out to me him via messages and phone calls but there has been no response until the publishing of this report.
Video was ‘altered’
Deputy Commissioner, Nishant Kumar Yadav told ThePrint, “The video was altered and did not show the whole briefing. The whole state knows that Ayush is one of our finest officers. We will release the whole video in the evening and will also hold a press conference about the incident.”
Yadav, sharing additional details about Saturday’s security arrangements for the meeting, said: “The violence did not take place where Sinha was deputed. We had three checkpoints- One at the toll plaza, one at the city entrance, and the last one at the VIP venue. Sinha was deputed at the VIP venue. He was briefing the police about the details of dos and don’ts as if the farmers will reach this point they would have already breached the law and two checkpoints. The briefing video was around 9 am.”
A source in the chief minister’s office told ThePrint that a response has been sought from the officer and further details from the district administration are awaited.
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Who is Ayush Sinha?
Sinha secured 7th rank in the UPSC exam in his third attempt, according to a Hindustan Times report. Prior to this, he had joined the revenue services as assistant commissioner.
The Tribune reports said Sinha had studied at St Edward’s School, Shimla, as well as Delhi Public School, RK Puram. He completed a chemical engineering course from BITS-Pilani.
Ayush’s father, P.K. Sinha was in the Indian Forest Service who retired as Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest. His maternal uncle, Atul Verma, was the additional director general of police (law and order) in Himachal Pradesh.
‘No correlation between Civil Service Exam and being Civil’
Since the video has gone viral, there has been a huge social media outrage on Twitter. Bureaucrats across the country have condemned Sinha’s actions saying he is a civil servant but there has been “no civility” in his behaviour. Twitteratis have urged courts to take cognisance of the incident and register an FIR against the officer.
Ajay Vir Jakhar, chairman of Kisan Samaj wrote, “Please take suo moto action; Video of Karnal’s SDM Ayush Sinha repeatedly ordering Police to a murderous assault by breaking heads of agitating #Farmers. Book for attempt to murder & dismiss from service.”
https://twitter.com/Ajayvirjakhar/status/1431659522016231425?s=20
Retired IAS officer and Former Secretary, Govt. of India Anil Swarup tweeted, “Such civil servants put the entire service to shame. They overlook the fact that such a statement could, perhaps should, be used for a criminal case against them. He forgets that no one will come to protect him. Such over zeal could/should land him in trouble.”
Such civil servants put the entire service to shame. They overlook the fact that such a statement could, perhaps should,be used for a criminal case against them.He forgets that no one will come to protect him.Such over zeal could/should land him in troublehttps://t.co/mIWh9t4dSi https://t.co/VNbwUsTNDS
— Anil Swarup (@swarup58) August 28, 2021
Awanish Sharan of the Chhattisgarh cadre, an IAS officer of the 2009 batch wrote: “There is no correlation between passing the ‘Civil Service Exam’ and ‘being Civil.’
There is no correlation between passing the ‘Civil Service Exam’ and ‘being Civil.’
— Awanish Sharan (@AwanishSharan) August 29, 2021
Haryana cadre officers, however, have not openly condemned the incident. A senior IAS officer of the state cadre, on the condition of anonymity, told ThePrint, “The recent batches seem to be misguided by social media popularity. We have handled worse law and order situations in the past. But we don’t have to take the law into our hands.”
Talking about the fraternity’s response to the viral video, the officer added: “Bureaucracy is also polarised these days. No one has condemned the incident in our WhatsApp groups though I did see outrage on social media from different cadres.”
(Edited by Paramita Ghosh)
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