The Allahabad High Court recently dismissed a plea by the Uttar Pradesh government seeking restoration of punishment awarded to a senior woman officer who had made a Facebook post about Kasganj violence in 2018 [State of UP v Rashmi].
In a verdict delivered on May 29, a Division Bench of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai said the action against Deputy Director (Economic and Statistics) Rashmi Varun was taken only on the basis of a report published by Dainik Jagran newspaper.
The Court also said the authorities failed to take into account her response that the newspaper had not correctly reported her Facebook post.
“Despite receiving the reply, the authorities did not even bother to take on record the original Facebook comments made by the respondent but continued to proceed on the basis of the newspaper article. Once the respondent had dissociated herself from the comments, it was incumbent upon the authorities during the enquiry to verify the actual Facebook comments before proceeding to pass the order of punishment,” the Bench said.
Hence, it dismissed Uttar Pradesh government’s plea challenging UP Public Service Tribunal’s decision to set aside the punishment order against Rashmi.
Rashmi Varun in her post had said that the youth who died during the violence was not killed by any community but by “bhagwa” (saffron) under the shield of a Tiranga rally. She had also written that Dr. BR Ambedkar was missing from the rally taken out on Ambedkar Jayanti and even he was "immersed" in saffron colour.
In 2019, the State imposed a censure upon the officer and also withheld her increments. In December 2025, the services tribunal quashed the punishment order. The State then moved the High Court against the tribunal judgment.
The State argued that the officer committed serious misconduct by criticizing the government and she was therefore rightly punished. However, the officer responded that the comment was not related to the government and did not create any law and order issue.
The Court ruled that her comments did not amount to criticising the government. Even the rally in question had no connection with the government, the Bench noted.
“Even otherwise, upon reviewing the article, we find that the respondent merely commented on the absence of Dr. Ambedkar in the rally. We fail to see how this comment would amount to criticizing the Government, especially as there was no reference to the Government or any policies, and the rally of which the mention has been made was a private rally known as "Tiranga Rally" having no affiliation or connection with Government or any of its agencies.”
The Court held that the enquiry officer had not even considered the officer’s reply and even the disciplinary authority failed to consider the defence raised by her.
This indicates that the order of punishment was passed without any application of mind, the Bench said.
Further, the Court said the comments made by the officer did not disclose commission of misconduct under the rules.
Accordingly, the Court approved the findings of the tribunal and dismissed the State’s appeal.
Standing Counsel Anand Kumar Singh represented the State.
[Read Judgment]