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29 Mar 2024, Edition - 3181, Friday

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Bureaucrats protest over alleged assault on Anshu Prakash, wear black bands

indiatoday.in

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Tension was palpable at the Delhi Secretariat on Thursday as bureaucrats reported to work wearing black bands in protest against the alleged assault on chief secretary Anshu Prakash.

Government officials demanded apology from chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and refused to attend any meeting with party leaders.

Condemning the attack, the officers observed silence for five minutes as they gathered at the concourse of the Delhi Secretariat at 1: 30 pm.

The associations of all IAS, Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service (DANICS) and Delhi Administration Subordinate Services (DASS) have decided that all government employees will observe a fiveminute silence outside their respective offices on all working days at 1.30 pm, which is their lunch time.

On Thursday, Home secretary Manoj Parida led the five-minute silence at the secretariat. The associations maintained that protests will continue in all Delhi government offices, Jal Board and other affiliated offices till the political executive takes steps to ensure safety and dignity of all government employees.

It is appalling that the assault by MLAs on the chief secretary happened in the presence of the CM. We demand that the CM take responsibility for the incident and sack the MLAs involved, said Deepak Bharadwaj, member of DASS and a Delhi government employee.

Party sources said an apology would mean admission of guilt and hence it is out of the question to tender any apology as of now.

Meanwhile as VK Jain, adviser to the CM, testified in court that AAP MLAs did assault the CS, the party stepped up attack on the BJP-led Centre and maintained that Jain was under pressure from police.

In his first statement to the police, Jain had said he was in the bathroom when the incident took place and did not know what happened in the room in his absence. However, police claim that on Thursday, Jain said when he returned from the bathroom, he found the chief secretary searching for his spectacles, indicating the possibility of an assault. Why did he change his stand within a day? Under whose pressure was he forced to change his statement? said an official party spokesperson.

He further added, The truth is that Jain was picked up by Delhi Police on Thursday morning and pressured to change his statement. How is it that the same person who emphatically said on Wednesday that he witnessed no assault during the entire time he was present there, has now claimed otherwise?

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