#MeToo and the civil service

Maninder Singh  

In the long annals of the steel frame and the vaunted civil service, exemplary action has been generally taken against those errant souls who have crossed the Rubicon of decency and public morality. Could this be the reason that there have been no incriminating stories about civil service officers emanating from the MeToo discourse? Or could this be the deep pregnant eye of the hurricane silence before a dangerous storm makes landfall?

An officer from the Punjab cadre, who had unilaterally decided to further his matrimonial ambitions by shamelessly wooing a lady, much against her will, was rebuffed by her and snubbed by his seniors, to the great detriment of his career.  KPS Gill, in his avatar as “Supercop”, had his reputation besmirched by a gallant lady, who stood up to a very public molestation. His reputation never recovered from the fatal act, of which he was eventually convicted. Long after the guns fell silent in Punjab it was the view of many in the government that the former DGP, Punjab, had not been given a prized appointment as an ambassador or a Governor because of the vexatiously shameful episode. After the conviction, however, there had been no chance at all of landing such a position. 

Why is it that Punjab seems to take the lead in such matters of headstrong misadventures? Could it have something to do with the intoxicating properties of mellifluous liquors and spirits, which are generously partaken?

A former Chief Commissioner once told some officers that in a gathering where men are drinking, women ought not to be lounging around. Far from women being not around when men are partaking of devilish waters, what happens then when the womenfolk also drink the same  brews?

Many moons ago, a probationer in the  Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration had done the unthinkable. He had not only entered, unannounced and surreptitiously, a lady officer’s hostel room, but also pointed a gun at her, seeking various unspecified favours of an unspeakable nature. He was rusticated and spent many years fighting a legal battle.

The one-time director of the academy suffered an ignominious fate when he misbehaved with an officer’s wife, who was travelling with him down to Dehradun. His career could never quite recover from the ignominy of the charge, which seemed to have been somewhat borne out by the circumstances of the incident.

Working as a Deputy Commissioner, I was amazed when the SSP sought advice about an allegation of molestation of a factory assistant’s wife by the estate manager in a company-owned tea garden. An FIR was lodged, although the SSP told me that he wondered why the woman had not lodged a complaint when the incident  happened a few months back. As the months and years roll by, it becomes increasingly difficult to substantiate the charges.

When in doubt, desist. This has long been one of the popular axioms imparted during training in the academy, and is applicable in all of the situations that an officer may face in the discharge of his duties. Whatever be the truth about the swirling stories, and whatsoever may be the hard bare facts, between the star-spangled destinies of relationships, and star-crossed lives and loves, lie many malevolent and forgetful stars.