Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

A handy tool for harassment

Besides affecting career, anonymous letters have shattered the family lives of officials both in the government and in the private sector, says S. Shivakumar

Anonymity can be a great strength. However, the problem of handling anonymous letters and telephone calls could be a real test of nerves. There have been incidents when even upright officials suffered severe stress and health problems because of anonymous letters.

On any particular day though there are no official statistics, over 100 anonymous petitions about various officers are despatched to senior government officials and their departments. Though in the normal course these letters are not taken seriously, an anonymous letter could only be the beginning of doom for a senior government official especially in the police force, points out an officer. "All it takes for a person is to use his imagination and write a report. Even if the report does not have any truth, if a senior official wants to harass his subordinate he would order an enquiry into the alleged allegations. An enquiry is a useful tool to embarrass and harass the official", the officer adds.

One particular officer who claims to have been affected the most by these anonymous letters said, "All my teachers in school consider me as a role model for other students to emulate. One fine day all my years of hard work and reputation went for a toss when a constable went to my school on the pretext of an enquiry. Though it was only a routine enquiry as part of an anonymous petition it had a negative impact about me among the minds of teachers. It is also disgusting when these police personnel conduct interviews with the victim's friends and close relatives on the same pretext", the officer adds.

Strictly speaking, as per the District Office Manual unsigned petitions need not be taken seriously and can be ignored. However, there have been cases when anonymous petitions have brought to light discrepancies and irregularities indulged in by certain officers. "While genuine petitions should be acted upon, the problem crops up only when petitions are sent as an act of vengeance to tarnish the image of government officials", the officer says.

There are groups at different levels who have the habit of writing petitions against their superiors. "This is used as a check and balance technique. For instance if the officer is very strict and harsh then a few petitions are sent by some affected subordinates to keep the officer under pressure". Though most of these anonymous petitions are usually filled with allegations such as misuse of power in official capacity and accepting gifts some petitions are engineered with the purpose of `character assassination'. This is especially common with senior women government officials. Even in private establishments there have been several incidents of anonymous letters being circulated in the office or pasted on the notice board about woman colleagues. "It is disgusting when you suddenly come to office and find a letter with a lot of rubbish and commenting on your personal life lying on your table", a woman bank official said. "Invariably it is not difficult to trace the origin of such letters once you check to find out who gains from them", the woman officer says.

However, apart from affecting the career, such letters have shattered the family lives of several officials both in the government and private sector. "The problem is when the anonymous letter becomes public. Once an enquiry is in progress on such petitions, it could be leaked to the press. When these are published and people start talking about the contents, it could be very disturbing. Ultimately these could be proved false but by then the damage is already done", the officer adds.

With most petitions being computer print outs and even hand written letters not being very legible the source remains a mystery in many cases. However, the person who had engineered the petition feels happy with the purpose of creating problems for the targeted officer having accomplished.

There have been cases when some petitions have been traced. However, most officials have now learned to live with this `anonymous letter menace' as a professional hazard.

"Only that some officers tend to become annoyed and reflect this attitude on persons coming to meet them with a grievance", an officer said.

The Registrar of a reputed university in Chennai found to his dismay that many of the professors were busy writing anonymous petitions against one another, and less inclined to write academic papers.

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