IAS officer faces conversion probe in UP over viral videos
KANPUR : The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday ordered a probe by a special investigation team (SIT) after an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Mohammed Iftekharuddin, was seen in three videos allegedly propagating conversion to Islam and persuading others to accept his religious beliefs at his official residence when he was the commissioner of the Kanpur division (20142017).
Iftekharuddin is currently the chairman of UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) and slated to retire in February, 2022.
The three purported videos went viral on Monday after national vice-president of MathMandir Coordination Committee, Bhupesh Awasthi, tweeted them with his complaint against the 1985-batch IAS officer, who hails from Siwan, Bihar.
The home department, in a statement, said the SIT would be headed by director-general, CB-CID, GL Meena and ADG, Kanpur zone, Bhanu Bhaskar, would be its member. The team would work in a time-bound manner and submit the report within a seven days.
In one of the purported videos, Iftekharuddin is seen sitting with a group of men, apparently clerics, and is heard saying that it is their duty to spread Islam to every home. In a related video, he is seen sitting at a gathering where another man is seen talking in an allegedly provocative manner about the merits of converting to Islam. HT cannot independently verify the authenticity
THREE CLIPS OF IFTEKHARUDDIN, WHO IS CURRENTLY THE UP STATE ROADWAYS TRANSPORT CORPORATION CHAIRMAN, WENT VIRAL ON MONDAY
of the videos. The clips surfaced days after the Uttar Pradesh Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested a cleric, Kaleem Siddiqui, and his three aides in connection with a case related to alleged conversions of unidentified people in the state.
But Kanpur police commissioner Asim Arun said additional deputy police commissioner Somendra Meena will probe the authenticity of the videos that allegedly date back to 2014-17, when the Samajwadi Party was in the power in UP.
Bhupesh Awasthi, national vice-president of ‘Math Mandir Samanvai Samiti’ (All India Math Temple Coordination Committee), made a written complaint against the IAS officer. “Under the service rules, no officer has the right to do religious preaching. In this case, he was using the government accommodation,” the complainant said.
Iftekharuddin did not take calls or respond to messages for comments.
A senior officer with in-depth knowledge of service rules said All-India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968 and All India Services (discipline and appeals), 1969 have clear provisions that prohibit any officer from indulging in political and religious act.
The department of personnel and training also had been issuing guidelines regularly on this issue, particularly after the case of IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, Uma Shankar, who was allegedly propagating Christianity, he said.
Uma Shankar was served notice under Section 3 (I) of the All-India Service Conduct Rules, which says every government servant shall maintain absolute integrity, maintain devotion to duty and do nothing which is unbecoming of a civil servant.
“To recall, a senior IAS officer was suspended in UP during SP rule when his wife organised a cultural event in the official residence,” he added.
UP law minister Brajesh Pathak told a television news channel that the state government took cognizance of the matter as the videos surfaced on Monday. “The government has constituted a high level probe and once the findings are out, we will let you know,” he said.
He said the state government was serious about any case of forcible conversion or conversion by enticement. It had enacted a law and anyone guilty would be punished as per the law.