In a gesture of humility, IAS officer Rinku Singh Rahi, the newly appointed sub divisional magistrate of Puwaiyan tehsil in Shahjahanpur, made headlines on Tuesday by publicly performing sit-ups, holding his ears. The act came after he had earlier made a clerk of a local lawyer perform the same punishment for urinating in the open, triggering opposition from lawyers.
The incident sparked a backlash from lawyers who were already protesting over other issues. They said the man had no choice but to relieve himself in the open due to the deplorable condition of the tehsil's public toilets.
Meanwhile, the SDM approached the protesting lawyers and said while protests and demonstrations were allowed, the sound from loudspeakers should not reach the office. During this interaction, the lawyers raised the issue of the clerk being made to do sit-ups and questioned: “If the toilets are in such a filthy condition, where are the lawyers and clerks supposed to go?”
As tensions rose, SDM Rahi acknowledged the fault of the administration and took an extraordinary step. In front of the protesting lawyers and staff, he held his ears and performed five sit-ups, declaring: “I, too, will not urinate in the open. I must follow the rules myself.” He admitted that the poor state of sanitation in the tehsil was a failure on his part as an administrator.
Despite attempts by the lawyers to stop him, Rahi went ahead with the self-imposed punishment. He assured the gathering that immediate steps would be taken to clean and repair the toilets, and pledged to improve overall hygiene on the tehsil premises. The video of the IAS officer doing sit-ups went viral on social media.
Who is Rinku Singh Rahi?
Rinku Singh Rahi served as a PCS officer, before becoming IAS in 2022. His journey took a dramatic turn in 2009 when, as district social welfare officer in Muzaffarnagar, he exposed a ₹100-crore scholarship scam. This led to an attack by local gangsters, who shot him seven times, leaving him with a disfigured face, a damaged jaw and blindness in one eye.
Despite enduring four months of hospitalisation and systemic resistance, including denied medical leave and a forced psychiatric ward admission, Rahi's resolve remained unbroken. He continued his fight against corruption, filing RTI applications. Inspired by his students at a state-run coaching institute, Rahi cleared the UPSC exam in 2022 under the disability quota, securing the 683rd rank at age 40.
The BuckStopper, run by a group of seasoned journalists, holds the powerful accountable. The buck stops with them, as they cannot shrug off their official responsibilities.
