Hundreds of government officials in Bihar sported red tilaks on their forehead on Friday to protest against a move to suspend Agriculture Deputy Director (Monitoring) Laxmikant Mishra for reporting to duty with a tilak on his forehead.

Special Secretary (Agriculture) C K Anil had recommended that Mishra be suspended for violating the official dress code.

"Anil has been harassing me for few weeks and now he has recommended my suspension. It is shocking," Mishra told rediff.com on Friday.

Mishra said that he has been sporting a tilak for over three decades. "I have never come to the office without a tilak, it simply symbolisea my culture and my religion," he said.

The protesting officers gheraoed Anil and shouted slogans against him. They demanded that the suspension recommendation against Mishra be withdrawn immediately.

"We virtually locked Anil in his office for over two hours to protest the actions taken by him because Mishra was wearing a tilak," said a senior official.

The protest by officials forced State Home Secretary Afzal Amanullah to issue a statement on Friday evening clarifying that no official has been suspended for sporting a tilak.

But when rediff.com contacted Anil, he refused to comment on the issue.

Anil also had to face the wrath of the Government Employees Association, which threatened to launch an agitation unless the suspension recommendation was withdrawn immediately.

In August, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had introduced a new dress code for government officers. The government circular had directed that the dress should be strictly adhered to and warned "non-compliance will be taken seriously."