Delhi Police ACP Manasvi Vashishta suspended following HQ protest over lawyer dispute

Manasvi Vashishta, the assistant police commissioner, has been suspended from his duties after leading a group of police officers to protest outside the Delhi Police Headquarters in Jai Singh Road. The decision to suspend him was announced in the aftermath of the protest that took place on Monday when many police personnel gathered to demand an audience with Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar concerning the developing confrontation with attorneys in Shahdara in East Delhi.

Clash in Shahdara leads to police officers' transfers and protest

The violence began with an attack on lawyer Lalit Bansal in Shahdara, resulting in a legal body calling for a court strike indefinitely.

The lawyers claimed that ACP Vashishta and Shahdara’s SHO had threatened them when they arrived to ask for the police action against those accused of assaulting their colleague.

Transfers: In order to avoid escalation of the situation, the head of administration transferred both of them out of Shahdara in the previous week.

Demands: The organisers of the protests demanded punishment for the police officers responsible for the conflict before they are allowed to return to court.

Police response:

Operational staff expressed dissatisfaction over transfers due to the absence of procedural safeguards during the job.

Protests at police headquarters

On Monday, transferred ACP Vashishta led police officers to the headquarters building on Jai Singh Road to raise concerns regarding officer safety and adherence to internal procedures.

"Our demands are straightforward. We want to see CP sir," Vashishta told journalists present during the protest. "There should be a standard operating procedure for cases like this. If such things happen to us, how will we help the public of the city?"

Protestors were chanting slogans like "Long Live Police Unity" and "Hail Mother India," asking for a meeting with the Police Chief to issue new Standard Operating Procedures for dealing with legal matters.

Suspension order and internal review

The senior authorities of the police department issued suspension orders soon after the protest was over, citing illegal assembly and violation of rules.

The higher-up administrative officials confirmed that there will be internal investigations to formulate new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the police in dealing with legal disputes at the police stations.

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