Patna: The Bihar unit of the IAS Officers' Association has condemned Delhi chief secretary Anshu Prakash's being roughed up, allegedly by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators and supporters, but there is a hint of irony there because Bihar is quite famous for such incidents.

"The office-bearers and members of the Bihar unit of IAS Officers' Association have condemned misbehaviour with Delhi chief secretary Anshu Prakash by some persons," the association's Bihar unit secretary Vivek Kumar Singh said on Wednesday. "The association has criticised, expressed regret and condemned the misbehaviour with the Delhi chief secretary, who discharged his duty with integrity."

Bihar, however, is a state where an IAS officer -then Gopalganj district magistrate G. Krishnaiah - was attacked by a mob led by politicians and then shot dead in 1994.

A former MP, Anand Mohan, is serving a life sentence in the case. His wife and MP Lovely Anand and three former MLAs were also sentenced in the case.

Another high-profile case was the assault on a 1980-batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, N.K. Sinha, when he was serving as the state transport secretary in 2001.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad's brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav had barged into Sinha's office - with his (Sadhu's) bodyguard - to pressure him for the transfer of an enforcement inspector, Sitaram Paswan, to Gopalganj.

When Sinha refused to do so, Sadhu threatened him with dire consequences and manhandled him.

Sadhu's bodyguard held a sten gun to the IAS officer's temple and forced him to write a transfer order for the officer concerned.

Later, Sinha lodged an FIR and dismissed Sitaram. The law took its course and the culprits were chargesheeted. Sadhu had to surrender and get bail in the case.

In another case, dating back to 2006, state transport secretary Pancham Lal was threatened and abused by then BJP MLA from Dhaka in East Champaran, Avanish Kumar Singh, and his Kesaria (East Champaran) counterpart Babloo Dev.

The two MLAs had barged into Pancham's office.

Further back in time, in 1992, then Janata Dal MP Ram Sharan Yadav, his gun-toting son Bibhuti Yadav and their musclemen had barged into the chamber of the then health commissioner TCA Srinivasa Ramanujam and abused him for not paying prompt attention to a file recommending Ram Sharan's friend's daughter's admission into Jamshedpur's MGM Medical College.

Bihar was undivided at that time.

There have been various other incidents in which MLAs and MPs in Bihar have abused, intimidated and threatened IAS officers.

Even Lalu is known to have used abusive language while talking to bureaucrats, and also forced them to prepare " khaini" (chewing tobacco) for him.

Asked about the incidents, Vivek Kumar Singh said: "Such incidents do not happen regularly in Bihar. In normal course, foul language is not used against them even if they take unpalatable decisions.

"We (IAS Officers' Officer Association) have condemned such incidents in the past. We condemned Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS Durga Nagpal's suspension for acting against the sand mafia and we have now done so for Delhi chief secretary Anshu Prakash," Vivek said.

Things have changed on this front in recent years, especially during chief minister Nitish Kumar's regime. Now, legislators complain about not being given seats and due respect by district magistrates and senior IAS officers.

Vivek, however, said: "We give due respect to all legislators and uphold good behaviour always."