AAP vs chief secretary row live updates: AAP MLAs sent to judicial custody

Top officers from IAS and DANICS cadres today sought an appointment with President Ram Nath Kovind, seeking action against those involved in the alleged attack on Delhi government chief secretary.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en"> Visuals of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DelhiChiefSecretary?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#DelhiChiefSecretary</a> Anshu Prakash leaving PMO after a meeting. <a href="https://t.co/u7l7ZEsltB">pic.twitter.com/u7l7ZEsltB</a></p> &mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/966266800789966848?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">February 21, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Top Delhi government bureaucrats from IAS and DANICS cadres came to work today with black ribbons on their arms to protest against the alleged attack by AAP MLAs on the Delhi government chief secretary. There are around 70 IAS officers and 400 Delhi and Andaman Nicobar Island Civil Services (DANICS) officers working with the Delhi government. The associations of the two cadres have said they would not go on strike as that would cause inconvenience to citizens.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's adviser VK Jain was questioned by Delhi Police in connection with an alleged assault on Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by two AAP MLAs. This comes just hours after AAP MLA Prakash Jarwal was arrested by the police on Tuesday night in connection with the alleged assault. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Harendra Kumar Singh told IANS that Jain was being questioned at the Civil Lines Police Station.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today evaded question on the alleged assault of Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash. The Chief Minister passed by the reporters without mincing a word on the issue. This reaction of Kejriwal comes a day after the alleged assault on Delhi Chief Secretary sparked controversy in the nation.

The Delhi Secretariat was the venue of unsavoury events on Tuesday when a group was seen heckling environment minister Imran Husain and Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashish Khetan and manhandling their aides.

Delhi bureaucrats &mdash; represented by their IAS, DANICS and DASS associations &mdash; met Singh to lodge a strong protest against Prakash&rsquo;s &ldquo;pre-meditated assault&rdquo; by AAP legislators in the presence of Kejriwal.

A crisis in governance is looming large over the capital as the bureaucratic brass has declared that it would &ldquo;only maintain formal written communication with the political executive&rdquo; till chief minister Arvind Kejriwal apologised.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was present at the meeting, but maintained silence on the controversy. Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, however, reiterated that the chief secretary&rsquo;s allegations were &ldquo;baseless&rdquo;.

The police have invoked stringent IPC sections, including hatching a criminal conspiracy and assaulting and threatening a public servant. The FIR has been filed against Okhla MLA Amanatuallah Khan and &ldquo;others&rdquo;.

Sources told TOI that Jarwal was sitting on the left of the chief secretary while MLA Amanatullah Khan was on the other side. The two had started the attack by raining blows on Prakash, police said.

While the CS claimed the meeting had been called to discuss the delay in the AAP government’s publicity campaign, the party and government said it had been summoned to take up the issue of problems in ration distribution due to delay in Aadhaar authentication.

Alleged assault of #Delhi Chief Secy Anshu Prakash: FIR lodged under Sections 186 (obstructing a public servant from performing the duty), 353 (assaulting a public servant), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 342, 504, 506(2) & 120b & 34. pic.twitter.com/NL3kytA0jY

&mdash; ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2018

Alleged assault of Delhi Chief Secy Anshu Prakash: IAS Association takes out candle light protest march at Rajghat pic.twitter.com/LSTPpg7wUz

&mdash; ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2018

Alleged assault of Delhi Chief Secy Anshu Prakash: BJP workers protest near Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's residence pic.twitter.com/I68QqrwAXW

&mdash; ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2018

It was a riot like situation, a crowd had gathered who became violent and even raised slogans, we don't know who they were. Everything is on CCTV,will be clear from it. Police were mute spectators: Ashish Khetan,AAP on alleged assault of Delhi Chief Secy Anshu Prakash pic.twitter.com/YouuzJusVK

&mdash; ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2018

We had asked him about an area where ppl were not getting basic facilities like medicine, the Chief Secy suddenly shouted 'maine Daliton ki thekedaari nahi le rakhi hai', his temper was high. He said 'you are not fit to be MLA, I will only reply to LG': Prakash Jarwal,AAP MLA pic.twitter.com/wRIT9qkklw

&mdash; ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2018

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en"> BJP condemns this incident. A constitutional crisis looms over Delhi. First time we saw a Chief Secy being assaulted on the directions of a CM. AAP &amp; anarchy have become synonymous. It has no relations with Constitution: Sambit Patra, BJP on Delhi Chief Secy allegedly assaulted <a href="https://t.co/iF2AyZZHrI">pic.twitter.com/iF2AyZZHrI</a></p> &mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/965883248999108608?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">February 20, 2018</a></blockquote>

The IAS, DANICS and DASS Associations, representing the officers of the Government of NCT Delhi, strongly condemn and protest the physical assault by the MLAs on the Chief Secretary, Delhi at midnight on 20.2.18 in the CM’s residence/Camp office at Flag Staff road in the presence and with the consent of the Hon’ble CM and Deputy CM. The appalling and shocking physical assault meted out to the Head of the Administration of Delhi, in the form of blows on the head, amounting to threat to life and physical safety, is deplorable.

This incident is the culmination of a series of incidents of officers being subjected to verbal abuse and intimidation by political authorities from time to time. All these incidents tend to lead to impairment of the effective functioning of the bureaucracy in free and impartial manner. In view of the above, the Associations have, in the past, repeatedly urged the political executive to allow the officials to discharge their official duties professionally.

Despite the above situation, the officers have been working tirelessly and fearlessly. However, the most recent incident of physical assault of the Chief Secretary of Delhi in the camp office of Chief Minister in the presence of Hon’ble CM & Dy. CM by MLAs is the last straw. This incident, which has happened in the official residence of the Chief Minister, clearly appears to be pre-planned, pre-meditated and absolutely without any provocation on the part of the Chief Secretary, in view of the fact that the meeting was called at midnight, the Chief Secretary was called alone in the presence of a large number of MLAs, and the meeting had been called to pressurize the Chief Secretary to release publicity material regarding achievements of the government, in violation of the Supreme Court guidelines. Therefore the meeting was absolutely devoid of any emergency or public interest.

The Associations strongly feel that the above incident amounts to a functional crisis and breakdown of governance and earnestly implore the Hon’ble Lt. Governor and the Govt. of India to take expeditious action against the perpetrators of the unfortunate incident.

The Associations also strongly condemn the misinformation being spread by public representatives about the facts and circumstances of the incident.

In public interest the officers and staff will continue to work in their offices. However, no officers will attend a meeting beyond office hours, outside office premises, including camp offices/ residences of ministers, till such time effective action is taken against all the people behind the incident of 20.02.18.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en"> AAP MLA <a href="https://twitter.com/AjayDutt48?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@AjayDutt48</a> has written to <a href="https://twitter.com/CPDelhi?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@CPDelhi</a> to lodge FIR against the Chief Secretary. Delhi chief secretary used &quot;casteist remarks&quot; against him in a meeting at CM <a href="https://twitter.com/ArvindKejriwal?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@ArvindKejriwal</a> residence. <a href="https://t.co/vchb5wdkWt">pic.twitter.com/vchb5wdkWt</a></p> &mdash; AAP (@AamAadmiParty) <a href="https://twitter.com/AamAadmiParty/status/965867480458629121?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">February 20, 2018</a></blockquote>