A government employee in Assam’s Kokrajhar district has accused Kokrajhar Deputy Commissioner Varnali Deka of slapping and throwing food stuff at him for not bringing her lunch box in a carry bag, a charge denied by the IAS officer.
Deka claimed that she had taken the employee, Dipak Das (50), “to task” over some office-related work and that she didn’t slap him as alleged by him.
While the alleged incident happened on January 27, Das received an order on Monday, releasing him from the DC’s office, sending him back to his original department.
The order, signed by the Additional Deputy Commissioner, states that “following a letter sent by the Agriculture department on January 30 and earlier request letters of Agriculture Department from time to time regarding release of Sri Dipak Das, mech-helper, office of the EE (Agriculture) division, engaged in DC office, on deputation, Sri Dipak Das is hereby released from DC Office, Kokrajhar, with immediate effect.”
Das alleged that Deka had hit him on the face at around 5 pm on January 27. Speaking to reporters, he alleged that he was asked to get Deka’s lunch box from her car. First she scolded him for not bringing it in a carry bag. He went on to allege that she threw some of the food on him and slapped him on the face, near the ear.
“She hit him so hard that he is still feeling the pain in his ear. We had to take him to the hospital after putting cotton in his ear. She is a DC but what right does she have to raise her hand on him?” asked Das’s daughter Sunita, 24.
However, the family did not register an FIR in the matter. Sunita said she had filed a complaint on January 28 but withdrew it the next day, saying that she felt pressured and was afraid of going to the police against a senior officer.
Story continues below this ad
Deka said that the complaint was withdrawn after she visited the family to explain.
“I have a habit of working after office hours and maybe some employees are upset about it. On the day concerned, I had taken the person to task because of not doing some file work properly, but it was not physical and there was nothing untoward on my part. I had shown him the correct way to do it but there was no physical movement on my part. When I found out that the person was not well, I visited the person and spoke to the family. Thereafter, they have withdrawn the complaint,” she claimed.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
