Get Booked under IPC 353 for calling an IAS Officer a Public Servant on UN Public Service Day !!! Case in Point Ms. Yeshu Rustagi, IAS 2012, UP Cadre
Sent via email to sspmta-up@nic.in on Sat, Jun 24, 2017 at 8:44 PM from raghav@brajfoundation.org
{First Information Report} Extreme Humiliation, Intimidation, false implication and outright abuse of official position & power tantamounting to the utter defamation of The Braj Foundation extended by Ms. Yeshu Rustagi, CDO Mathura during the review meeting of HRIDAY summoned by her on June 23rd, 2017 at Rajeev Bhawan, Mathura
To,
Senior Superintendent of Police
Mathura
Copy to
SHO Sadar
Subject: {First Information Report} Extreme Humiliation, Intimidation, false implication and outright abuse of official position & power tantamounting to the utter defamation of The Braj Foundation extended by Ms. Yeshu Rustagi, CDO Mathura during the review meeting of HRIDAY summoned by her on June 23rd, 2017 at Rajeev Bhawan, Mathura
Respected Sir,
1. This is to bring to your kind notice the extreme humiliation, intimidation, false implication and outright abuse of official position & power extended by Ms. Yeshu Rustagi, CDO Mathura during the review meeting of HRIDAY summoned by her at 11:00 am on June 23rd, 2017 at Rajeev Bhawan, Mathura.
2. Context of the Meeting
a. Ms. Rustagi, who happens to be the administrative head of HRIDAY for the city of Mathura, chose to make her long due physical inspection of Vrindavan Parikrama Marg Project all of a sudden on June 20th, 2017. The most interesting and intriguing part is that she chose the timing of this important inspection at 20:00 Hours in a dark fortnight where even the moonlight was not amply available. Nonetheless, the moment our Project Coordinator Mr. Gaurav Gola received the intimation of this surprise visit of Ms. Rustagi, our Assistant Director Works, Commander Janardan Pant was rushed to the site.
b. Ms. Rustagi, who has had been leading a unsubstantiated charge ever since she assumed the charge of CDO Mathura, against The Braj Foundation on one or the other count, chose this occasion to humiliate Commander Janardan Pant, a veteran from the venerated ITBP, by asserting that it has been a misfortune to have The Braj Foundation as the City Anchor for HRIDAY Mathura. She laid further emphasis on the word “misfortune” by repeating the aforesaid statement all over again.
c. Post this Ms. Rustagi got an inspection report prepared under her very signature containing 5 points replete with a plethora of derogatory references to the professional competence & reputation of The Braj Foundation. Interestingly this inspection report was sent to us on June 22nd, 2017 via whatapp on the official HRIDAY Mathura group at 20:09 Hours summoning an explanation meeting to this effect on June 23rd, 2017 at 11:00 Hours at her office. This inspection report posted was hardly legible as it was shot by a low resolution camera in dim light.
d. Sir, this concerned us quite a lot as our entire team has been working relentlessly round the clock for the cause of Braj, amidst such harsh conditions, delivering spectacular results on ground. We could not have allowed any misgiving on the part of any official as our hard earned reputation is our only professional & personal asset to claim for in the outside world. We were shocked & intrigued to find such a high handed inspection report containing unsubstantiated allegations straddling to the verge of outright defamation.
e. This occurred to me as a sinister plot for yet another reason as we were all involved in a major public function on the 22nd of June laying open Rinmochan Kund at Goverdhan to general public which was well publicised and Hon’ble Energy Minister of Uttar Pradesh Sri Srikant Sharma was to inaugurate the same. Amidst such a set of circumstances, serving such a strong letter at 20:09 hours on 22nd of June summoning a meeting at 11:00 hours the very next day, giving us hardly 15 hours of notice including the dead of the night.
f. However, meeting such tough time lines has always been a second habit of every volunteer at The Braj Foundation. I thereby chose to rush from Delhi the very morning of June 23rd, cancelling all my other pre-scheduled appointments to attend this explanation meeting to brief Ms. Rustagi and allay all her concerns to put a check to the incessant spree of diatribes heralded to scuttle the progress of HRIDAY Mathura.
3. The Explanation Meeting convened by CDO at 11:00 Hours on 23rd June 2017
a. I along with our Project Coordinator Mr. Gaurav Gola and Assistant Director Works Commander Janardan Pant, Prject Manager Er J P Sarswat and cartographer Mansukh Singh reached Rajeev Bhawan, the CDO office well in time and on the behest of Ms. Rustagi’s personal staff we were made to enter her office room. As a matter of courtesy we remained standing in one corner of the room awaiting further instructions from the Chair (Madam Yeshu Rustagi).
b. To our utter surprise, none of the other officials (Sah Nagar Ayukt, AE MVDA, AE Nagar Nigam, JE Nagar Nigam, Mayank Garg) who were also instructed to be a part of this impelling explanation meeting were present out there.
c. Seeing us standing, Ms. Rustagi asked us as to why were we there to which I, being the leader of the group responded firmly that madam we have been summoned by you for the explanation meeting referring to the inspection report sent to us just the last night at 20:00 hours. I also said that there would have been an impelling reason for you to conduct a field inspection at 20:00 hours, so we need your undivided attention. Since Ms. Rustagi was into some other pressing works, and our expectation was of an intent hearing at her end, we recused ourselves till she is ready for the same.
d. After a span of around 15 minutes at around 11:25 Hours we were called again to her chamber. As we were in the process of settling down she started heralding instructions without giving us a chance to speak up for which we were troubled under such impelling conditions giving us a sheer notice of 15 nocturnal hours.
e. When I tried to put forth our case starting from point 1 of the inspection report, she stopped me at once and almost wrapped up the entire discussion by passing on summarily strictures which I couldn’t comprehend.
4. The Flash Point- The NGO-GO Argument
a. I insisted that madam, if we go by a sequential contextual conversation it would be good to all of us. She probably took it as an insult and asserted that she doesn’t need to hear up from an NGO to which I did retort that madam, you are a public servant.
b. This very phrase upset her to the hilt and she started screaming and yelling at me with the core objective of intimidating me abusing her official power and privileges. I didn’t leave the turf either as I have had been organizing public functions on June 23rd which happens to be UN Public Service Day and felicitating senior officials of Government for their good work.
c. In the spirit of a debate in public interest I responded that madam you are a public servant as well. I am not in your court of law, this is a public office and we are here to discuss an important project of public importance.
d. Yes, in order to make myself heard, I had to raise my voice as well, but that was in the due spirit of a well-reasoned and sanitised debate.
e. This perhaps disturbed Ms. Rustagi even more and she insultingly asked me to Get Out of the room.
f. While I was going out of my own as it was not worthwhile to have a meaningful discussion amidst such settings, she called up her gunner at once to escort me out and in the same very moment she asked her PS to call police and get me arrested. I was taken out of her room by her gunner and restrained to sit in her PS room till the police arrived.
g. All this happened in such a flash moment that I was taken to shock & surprise. I have attended meetings of much more higher pedigree whereby there has been a considerable difference of opinion on both sides, but never ever such an ostentatious display of official intimidation has ever been heralded by any official of whatsoever rank being there in chair.
5. The Uncontrolled Contemptuous Cacophony of Ms. Rustagi
a. Ms. Rustagi didn’t stop at this. She started yelling and screaming at my colleague Gaurav Gola at her highest pitch which I could overhear in the other room throughout.
b. She said to Mr. Gola that I owe you — The Braj Foundation — nothing, then why should I hear you out. I am not under any obligation to do so.
c. To which Mr. Gola, in order to calm her down, silently submitted to Ms. Rustagi that madam, we as HRIDAY Anchor have been requesting you for quite a while to add to the official HRIDAY Mathura Whatsapp group, our other senior stakeholders who can allay all your concerns and queries at once which would not have led to such serious confusions.
d. To this Ms. Rustagi got immensely furious all over again and we could hear her at the top of her voice yelling that am I expected to add the entire Braj Foundation to this Whatsapp group. She did cross her saner limits by uttering that “you would say that I should add Vineet Narain to this group as well”.
e. Sir, while enjoying the temporary suspension of my civic liberties, I was pondering as to is this the decorum of a public official whereby she utters the names of an amply respected public personality of global repute with such contempt. May be, this is the new norm in contemporary public service, I surmised.
f. Nonetheless, I was sitting helpless with my liberties were restrained by the gunner of CDO.
g. I was interrogated as a hardened criminal by her Personal Secretary as well, as if I was an intruder in the office who had come uninvited.
6. Departure to Police Station Sadar in official vehicle of CDO Office
a. Interestingly due to the shortage of an official police vehicle owing to Friday Namaz & Iftar pressure, I was escorted to Police Station Sadar in the official vehicle of CDO Office.
b. Such was the insistence on part of Ms. Yeshu Rustagi, who was determined to teach the offender in me who dared to label her as a public servant at the cost of the larger public order at a time when the police personnel were hard pressed for resources to manage the utterly critical law and order situation.
c. Since, it was a distress call from CDO office, SHO Sadar had to take it on topmost priority.
7. Restraining at Police Station Sadar & Freeing in the absence of a formal complaint from Ms. Yeshu Rustagi
a. I was restrained at the police station for over 4 hours during which no official complaint was received by the SHO.
b. When the SHO inquired the CDO office around 4 pm as to why the complaint has not come to him so far, there was no credible response from CDO office.
c. In the absence of any formal charges pressed upon me, the SHO let me off under the guarantee of Mr. Gaurav Gola and Mr. Prem Singh, our site supervisor
d. I thereafter resumed our onward journey to Lucknow for our plethora of meetings pertaining to the developmental projects of Braj region.
8. The FIR & its Self-Defying, Self-Contradictory Abstract & Mirroring Nature
a. Today (June 24th, 2017), I wake up at Lucknow to find from Newspaper reports that a FIR has been formally lodged against me by Ms. Yeshu Rustagi. I obtained a copy of the same through Mr. Prem Singh, our staffer at Mathura and was astonished that a host of charges under sections 353, 183, 186 and 7CLA of the IPC have been pressed against me.
b. Interestingly, the FIR which was filed after such a thoughtful introspection by Ms. Rustagi is abstract to the core, is self-defying and self-contradictory in itself.
c. The charges which she has pressed against me in the commentary section of the FIR echo her very behaviour which she could ward off due to her official position and privileges vested in her by the Constitution.
d. Invasion of Privacy: Ms. Rustagi’s contemptuous behaviour was so upfront that she could unearth at once the name of my deceased father and my address inscribed on my Aadhar Card which was forcefully extracted by her Personal Secretary when I was detained by her gunner in the adjacent room to her official chamber. I would like to emphasize that this is an utter abuse of the powers vested in a public official to abrogate the privacy of a respectable citizen representing a bonafide and highly reputed organization by elaborating his personal details at once.
e. Abstract Allegations: The learned officer who secured a prestigious 31st Rank in the Civil Services Examination didn’t choose to substantiate any of these abstract charges with even a remote evidence, the way she has had been shooting Inspection Reports without any credible objective evidence. Ms. Rustagi alleges that I talked to her in a
i. loud voice : I admit to have raised my voice as in 4(d) above. The moment the lady in the chair started yelling and screaming, I had to speak out as well. It was respectful but firm.
ii. threatened her : If impressing upon the fact that she was adorning a public office and was a public servant is tantamounting to threatening her as in 4(a)(b)©, I admit to have committed this crime. On the contrary Ms. Yeshu Rustagi has chosen to threaten our organization by way of this FIR to not speak out freely and fairly in due public interest of Mathura. She intends to intimidate our industrious efforts of over decade and a half.
iii. extended a disrespectful & unpalatable behaviour : On the reverse the empowered public official in Ms. Yeshu Rustagi was utterly contemptuous, derogatory and defamatory towards not just me but also towards my very organization I was representing which has ample credentials to its kitty.
iv. used unparliamentarian language : The Hon’ble Chief Development Officer in Chair has to on record produce the exact unparliamentarian words used by me to this effect, instead of a generic passing reference.
f. Impelling Reason for you to visit Vrindavan at 8:00 PM: The complaint puts forth this very statement of mine emphatically the context of which has been explained in 3 ©. Also the mention of this statement gives credence to our charge in 9 (i).
g. I was ousted after immense effort from CDO Chamber: This is entirely false and concocted. My version of truth is in 4(e)(f)(g).
9. My Charge against Ms. Yeshu Rustagi, CDO Mathura
a. Sir, the unfortunate turn of events which converged yesterday simply vindicate our view that Ms. Rustagi is being driven by certain vested interests and has developed a deep prejudice against The Braj Foundation leading to an attempt to defame our highly established credentials and accomplishments on ground.
b. This is despite knowing the facts that Hon’ble PM of India, CM of UP, several Union and State Ministers, successive Chief Secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Planning Commission of India, Niti Ayog, several Secretaries of Centre and State Government and almost all the most revered saints of Braj and rest of the country and media have constantly, on record, praised us for our selfless contribution in restoring the crumbling heritage of Braj.
c. Sir, our selection as a HRIDAY City Anchor was made through a competitive selection procedure at the national level and you were nominated as a National Advisor to the entire scheme as well, a post you relinquished for focussing at the grass roots. While launching the HRIDAY scheme Hon’ble Union Minister and Secretary MoUD had referred us as a role model for rest of the country. Either Ms. Rustagi overlooked these hard facts or she in her spate of outlandish attitude chose to humiliate us for certain vested reasons, need to be looked into.
d. Sir, our winning of the 5 UNESCO backed Awards as Best Water NGO of India is a no mean achievement. CEO NITI Ayog, Mr. Amitabh Kant has appreciated our work immensely and said that what Braj Foundation has accomplished in 15 years in Braj, 80% of Tourism Departments of Indian states have not been able to in 70 years. Amidst such a context, how could I have not responded firmly to the constant humiliation extended by Ms. Rustagi on unsubstantiated and flimsy grounds?
e. Sir, Ms. Rustagi in her inspection report has accused us of changing the DPR of Vrindavan Parikrama, based on a verbal conversation with the contractor. Interestingly again, while she tends to name and shame Commander Janardan Pant as The Braj Foundation representative present during the inspection, she forgets or forgoes the name of the exact Contractor Representative which educated her of the design changes.
f. Sir, Project DPRs are sacred but are an evolving document which act as splines to drive the project flow. If the Constitution of India can be amended over a 100 times, why not some minor alterations which we have duly conveyed to and consulted with the National Mission Directorate and City Mission Directorate. It simply emerges that Ms. Rustagi has taken to gossip mongers as her eyes and ears instead of hearing it all from the horses mouth towards whom she seem to have utter contempt.
g. Sir, the disruption which Ms. Rustagi wants to creep in to satiate her drive to hijack the project design was evident from her bid to ‘cry wolf’ when she tried to scrap the DPR of Shri Krishna Janmasthan by concocting a supposed security threat perspective which was taken due care of at the very headstart. Nonetheless, we did pay heed to this very aspect as it’s always a great idea to infinite check on sensitive matters as that of security, we approached our Chairperson to intervene using his privileged connections.
h. Our Chairperson took up the matter with the topmost members of Shree Krishna Janmasthan Security Review Committee comprising of Union Home Secretary Mr. Rajiv Meharshi, Director IB Mr. Rajiv Jain, DG CRPF Mr. R R Bhatnagar and DG PAC Mr. Javed Ahmed. As informed the matter was taken up on 19th June 2017 at 3 PM at North Block whereby Chief Secretary, UP Mr. Rahul Bhatnagar and DGP UP Mr Sulkhan Singh were also formally engaged through telephonic conversation.
i. The outcome of this high powered review was that the security concerns introduced by Ms. Rustagi were not found to be of any substance and a go ahead was given to the already approved DPR. This somehow annoyed Ms. Rustagi and she started off her witch hunt to demean, deride and defame us through a well meditated schema & insidious design which is not worthy of a public servant. This is all evident in 2(a)-(f), a closer look of which shall reveal it all with ample facts indicative of a criminal conspiracy on the behest of vested interests.
j. Sir, in my humble submission, it was Ms. Rustagi’s outright desperation to defend a non-defendable, irrational and away from facts position which forced her to retort to such a blatant abuse of her official position and power leading to a criminal breach of trust which voluntary organizations like ours repose.
k. She was not at all ready or eager to listen and equip herself with the multi-layered complicated context of the projects under consideration and simply chose to herald unsubstantiated accusations creating further convolutions, in the fray.
l. As the administrative head of HRIDAY Mathura, She was expected to streamline & facilitate the entire process, which unfortunately has been converted into a quagmire of back biting, smear campaigns and phoney allegations.
m. Sir, I feel extremely sorry to submit that this consistent non-cooperation at Ms. Rustagi’s end is hurting the progress of the project which does require a more nuanced and matured approach in a theatre of operations which is as complex as that of Mathura-Vrindavan.
10. Epilogue
a. By registering an FIR against me under sections 353, 183, 186 of the IPC and 7CLA Ms. Rustagi has retorted to the tactic of shooting the messenger to hide her utter incompetence.
b. At a time when the nation is marching to accomplish the Prime Minister’s vision of a New India, this insidious strategy of intimidation probably won’t yield.
c. Sir, defaming an extremely credible & decorated organisation having stellar accomplishments on ground is a matter of grave concern which need to be redressed.
d. This is highly retrograde on the morale of thousands of our selfless volunteers like me working for restoring the pristine glory and grandeur of Braj Bhoomi.
e. Sir, this is to seek your due intervention into the matter by registering a case against Ms. Yeshu Rustagi under the requisite sections of the IPC and other statutes mandating a saner conduct of probity and propriety on part of public servants.
f. Sir, this is not a personal insult to me. It’s a malafide design to thwart the bonafide good work of our organization on the ground. We are deeply pained to have this turn of events in the reign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi who have given we youngsters a great hope and confidence to stand up and fight back for a national rejuvenation.
g. In anticipation of justice and an emphatic course correction.
Raghav Mittal | 9910050959
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -
Director Research
The Braj Foundation | www.brajfoundation.org
**************************************
Delhi Head Office:
C-6/28, SDA, Hauz Khas, New Delhi — 110016
Tel + Fax : 011–26566800, 26519080
**************************************
YESHU RUSTAGI’s VERSION
