J&K officer’s ”remarks against vegetarian food” hurt subordinate’s ‘religious sentiments’, booked

Rajouri: Jammu police have booked a case against a senior J&K Administrative Service officer, Abdul Rashid Kohli, for making “objectionable remarks over vegetarian food”, which police said have hurt religious sentiments of the community.

One of Kohli’s subordinates of the level of Secretary, Panchayat, filed the case against him in the magistrate’s office after having lunch with him last week, at Blue Moon restaurant in Muradpur area. The complaint subsequently led to his suspension on the on grounds of “hurting religious sentiments”.

An Assistant Commissioner Panchayat, Kohli was initially placed under suspension by the Rajouri District Magistrate Vikas Kundal on Tuesday.

The official has further sought an inquiry of the incident by a committee headed by Additional District Development Commissioner (ADCC) Pawan Parihar. This investigation by ADCC Rajouri is expected to prepare a report within 15 days, the officials said.

In response to the accusations, Kohli asserted that “he did not have any controversial conversation and the issue had become unnecessarily sensational due to what he termed as rumors on social media”.

“Some colleagues of mine had invited me for lunch a day later. I was told that one of them has been hurt following which I also met him and his family. I do not have any agenda and it has become sensational due to rumors on social media. I don’t have any personal issues with anyone and the law will take its own course,” Kohli told reporters on Thursday.

The suspension orders released against him stated “this conduct of the officer is not only a violation of service conduct rules, but also an issue of hurting religious sentiments of other communities and has the potential of creating law and order problems within the district.”

Police have booked him under sections 295-A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 153-A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence).

The complaint further noted that other colleagues present at the place of the incident behaved as “mute spectators.” The complainant stressed that he had objected to the remarks of Kohli, who he also accused of using unparliamentary language following which he was also “threatened.”

Meanwhile, local advocates are of the view that the Deputy Commissioner should withdraw the suspension order against the officer. According to advocate Sheikh Shakeel, the official, as per the law, is “not authorized” to suspend a KAS officer without approval from a competent authority.

“The suspension order is not rightly worded. There is also no reference of approval from any competent authority or appointing authority… The DC may not have the knowledge and I think due to the nature of the controversy or on some political pressure this order has been issued which should be withdrawn immediately,” the advocate reiterated.

Interestingly, the accused officer has been previously awarded for being an efficient officer in rural work on August 15.

—INDIA NEWS STREAM