Controversial IAS officer Shah Faesal is in news again for all the wrong reasons. Shah Faesal had posted a tweet saying, “Population +patriarchy +illiteracy +alcohol +porn +technology +anarchy = rapistan”.
https://twitter.com/shahfaesal/status/988043951767568385
https://twitter.com/shahfaesal/status/988391624756547584
As a result of this tweet, the Jammu and Kashmir government has initiated disciplinary action against him for not abiding by the service rules. The notice has been issued against Shah Faesal for his aforementioned controversial tweets. The notice reads, “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 notice further adds, “”The Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training has requested the state government to initiate an action against you.”
Shah Faesal later on clarified that his tweet was against rape-culture in South-Asia and not just India. However, as it is clearly evident in the aforementioned twitter links, one of the two tweets that he posted on this controversial issue refers to an incident which happened in India.
Reacting to the J&K government’s notice, the controversial IAS officer went one step ahead and posted the notice served by J&K government on twitter- which is violation of All India Service rules. He posted the letter with some rudimentary editing to mask the identity of the issuer. Shah Faesal tweeted, “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.”
https://twitter.com/shahfaesal/status/1016683369004982272
As is clearly evident from his tweet, he is playing the victim card. His tweet also sparked a larger debate over the issue of Freedom of Speech of government employees. He tried his level best to club the violation of rules and indiscipline with the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression. But his case is not about the freedom of speech, it is about making a factually incorrect statement, peddling propaganda, subtly insulting the nation of which he is public servant. People like Shah Faesal need to understand that one does not become an IAS officer by just cracking the exam but living by the code of honor and integrity. By playing victim card, Shah Faesl wants to project himself as a ‘martyr’ for free speech, rightly observed by Sreemoy Talukdar in his article in firstpost. It also exposes the hypocrisy of self-declared crusader of freedom of speech and expression. Those rules which are against their nonsense and stupidity needs to be amended and those which support their cause are the true spirit of the Indian constitution. Such people do not have any respect for any rule or constitution. For them the constitution is a mere tool to achieve their nefarious means.
Sreemoy Talukdar in his article also exposes the hollowness of Shah Faesal’s theory that illiteracy and pornography leads to an increase in rape crimes. A country like Sweden which have 99% literacy rate is witnessing a rapid increase in rape cases and it is among the list of top 10 countries with maximum number of sexual crimes. US, Australia and UK are also in the list of top 10 countries with maximum rape crimes. This fact is enough to burst false narrative peddles by Shah Faesal. His other hypothesis, linking pornography with rape, was also not supported by any data.
Just a few days ago, Shah Faesal made a statement equivalent to calling for an external intervention in Kashmir.
https://twitter.com/shahfaesal/status/1016662906019237889
If Shahe Faesal thinks any particular policy of government is wrong then he should work with the government to improve it instead of making a career out of it by criticizing it on social media.