The Rajya Sabha secretariat has demoted a security officer for his “offensive, derogatory, demeaning and sarcastic posts” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media, saying he had violated rules and failed to maintain “political neutrality”.

The officer had also shared a number of posts that “indicated his active involvement in political activities”.

In an order dated February 12, the Rajya Sabha secretariat said the Chairman of the House, M. Venkaiah Naidu, had in pursuance of rules “imposed the penalty of reduction to the lower grade of security officer for a period of five years on Urujul Hasan, deputy director (security), who is under suspension”.

According to the order, besides demotion, Hasan would not get any salary hike for five years or regain his current position on the expiry of the punishment period.

The Rajya Sabha secretariat concluded the disciplinary proceedings initiated against Hasan on the charges of sharing several “offensive, derogatory, demeaning and sarcastic posts on social media against the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and some Union Ministers and Chief Ministers”, the order said.