The Jammu and Kashmir government on Friday ordered a probe into an incident involving senior IAS officer Kumar Rajeev Ranjan, who was caught on video abusing a woman subordinate, calling her "bloody sh*t" and threatening to have her suspended and dismissed from service during a virtual review meeting.
The incident triggered widespread outrage and demands for action against the officer after a video of the verbal abuse during a meeting held on Wednesday to review the implementation of Mission YUVA, a government youth empowerment scheme, circulated widely.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) also took note of the incident and wrote to the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary, seeking verification of the video, an impartial enquiry and appropriate disciplinary and legal action if the allegations were established. The commission also sought an action-taken report from the Chief Secretary within seven days.
In the video, Ranjan, Administrative Secretary in the Labour and Employment Department, is heard repeatedly interrupting Beenish Wani, a 2015-batch Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Services (JKAS) officer serving as Assistant Director at the Employment and Counselling Centre in Ganderbal.
"Why do you need NRLM? If NRLM had to do this work, why would I give it to the Assistant Director? Why would the Chief Secretary give it to me? He would give it to the Managing Director of NRLM," Ranjan says.
Wani attempted to explain that the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) serves as a supporting agency, but Ranjan interrupted her again.
When Wani insisted on being given an opportunity to explain her position and objected to his language, the exchange grew more heated.
"You are bloody sh*t! I can always talk to you like this," Ranjan said.
She countered, saying, "No, you cannot call me sh*t."
Ranjan then asserted his authority, saying, "I am your boss, stupid."
He subsequently directed officials in his office to prepare a suspension order against Wani and record her remarks in it. He also asked them to write to the General Administration Department (GAD), seeking her dismissal.
"Immediately suspend her and write to the GAD that she should be thrown out of the service! Dismissed from the service!" he shouted.
The incident sparked widespread outrage, with political leaders and the Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Services fraternity demanding immediate action against the officer.
National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah called Ranjan's behaviour unacceptable and said the officer should be removed from the Union Territory.
"He deserves to be reprimanded; his conduct lacks the professional standards expected of an officer. Their role is to listen to the people—people who come to share their grievances. Instead, he simply barked, 'Get out, get out!' This is unacceptable. He should be removed from Jammu and Kashmir; he is not the kind of officer who should be serving in this state," Abdullah said.
PDP leader Iltija Mufti condemned the language allegedly used by Ranjan and demanded his immediate suspension. In a post on X, Mufti questioned the officer's conduct and accused the authorities of allowing senior officials to exercise unchecked power over local officers.
"How dare you use such derogatory, demeaning language? Take your god complex and dirty slurs elsewhere. We won't tolerate this in Kashmir," she wrote.
Mufti also alleged that since 2019, Kashmiri Administrative Services officers and competent Kashmiri IAS officers had been deliberately sidelined. She claimed that efforts were being made to undermine local officers in the administration and police and make them subordinate to officers from outside the region.
The JKAS fraternity said that while it unequivocally upheld administrative accountability and performance monitoring, no supervisory authority could justify abusive language, intimidation or misconduct that undermined the dignity of a serving officer.
The fraternity also alleged that the incident was not isolated, claiming that Ranjan had a pattern of using "unparliamentary and demeaning language" in an official capacity.
"More disturbing is the department's subsequent attempt to dismiss the circulating video as AI-generated and fabricated. The video is authentic, as testified by the officer herself and other officials who were present during the virtual meeting," the statement said.
Ranjan is also facing a CBI probe into his alleged role in the arms licence case. A disproportionate assets case was registered against him and his family members last year.
Ranjan, who previously served as Deputy Commissioner of Kupwara, is under the scanner in the agency's investigation into alleged irregularities in the issuance of thousands of arms licences to non-residents in Jammu and Kashmir.
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