New Delhi, January 19
The country’s largest Central force engaged in internal security affairs CRPF, having a strength of over three lakh officers and jawans, has issued a fresh social media guidelines for its personnel, asking them not to comment on issues relating to personal grievances and political matters that may come back to “haunt” on a later date.
Officials said the instructions were issued last week by the headquarters of the force here after it was noticed that the “force personnel were taking recourse to social media platforms to vent their personal grievances, which is in violation of CCS conduct Rules 1964 and may attract disciplinary action”. In the circular, the personnel have also been sensitised to “cyber bullying and harassment”, they added.
In the guidelines the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has also outlined some “don’ts” including not revealing the exact location of their postings and nature of work if working in a sensitive ministry or organisation.
“Do nothing which on your Internet social networking may harm the reputation of the government or that of your own; do not make adverse comment on government policies or make political/religious statements in any public forum and do not comment on controversial, sensitive or political matters that may come back to haunt you,” a senior official quoting the guidelines said.
The guidelines state that personnel should not write or post anything out of anger, spite or under the influence of alcohol and they should also not be a bully or discriminate against anyone online, it added.
“Do not share anything through a non-authorised platform even if it is unclassified or innocuous like manpower issues, promotions, local orders, etc. Which may give an opportunity to the adversaries in gathering intelligence,” it further said.
The guidelines also have some “dos” for the CRPF personnel like being “sure to know the difference between fact and opinion” and “make sure to clarify (over social media platforms) that you are not representing the position of the government”. It went on to add: “Always remember that you are personally responsible for the content you publish on blogs, wikis, or any other platform or in any form of user-generated content.”
The personnel have also been asked to “protect the privacy” of their family and friends, as carefully as their own, and they should use “utmost discretion while commenting on sensitive issues, gender issues and controversial issues online”.
