Delhi Police Faces Dissent From Within Its Own Ranks

Delhi Police suspended an Assistant Commissioner of Police on November 3 (Tuesday), a day after the officer led around 100 personnel in a protest outside Delhi Police Headquarters against their transfer and that of a Station House Officer.

The officer suspended was identified as Manasvi Vashishta, until recently the Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Gandhi Nagar in the Shahdara subdivision. Reports said the suspension was for violation of discipline, with Delhi Police later confirming the action.

The trouble began on October 23 at Shahdara police station, where lawyers had gone to press for action in an assault case, which involved an advocate. A scuffle broke out and one lawyer was left with a severe head injury. Bar associations then alleged that Manasvi and Inspector Arun Kumar, the Station House Officer, had threatened the visiting advocates, and that Manasvi had brandished a weapon. Senior police officers say the allegations are false and have no evidence behind them.

Lawyers stopped work across district courts and said they would not return until action was taken against the officers involved. To settle matters with the Bar Council of Delhi, senior authorities moved both officers out of their postings. That ended one dispute and started another.

On Monday, November 2, between 80 and 100 personnel, women among them, gathered outside the headquarters and asked for the transfers to be withdrawn. Manasvi was one of those transferred, which made the officer both the face of the protest and the reason for it. “Our demands are clear,” Manasvi said, adding that personnel wanted to meet the Police Commissioner and wanted a standard operating procedure for such situations. Manasvi asked how personnel were expected to protect the city if such incidents ended this way. Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Sachin Sharma came out to talk to the group, and some personnel later went in for discussions.

This does not happen often. Delhi Police personnel generally cannot demonstrate against their superiors over transfers, discipline, pay or working conditions the way citizens can. A former police commissioner said it was the first time personnel had walked into headquarters and protested. Questions about whether personnel can publicly protest against their own senior officers followed. The protest came a day before Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu was due to interact with personnel, from constables to inspectors, at Utsav Sadan in Kingsway Camp.

Delhi has seen this before. In November 2019, hundreds of personnel besieged the Police Headquarters for 11 hours after lawyers attacked colleagues at the Tis Hazari court complex, and went home after top officers promised a review petition against a Delhi High Court order.

What began as a dispute between lawyers and the police at a single station now involves the force’s own ranks. The events of October 23 remain contested: lawyers allege that the officers threatened them and that a weapon was brandished, while senior police officers call the allegations false. The transfers drew a protest from within the force, and the suspension has added a disciplinary matter to the list.

Police personnel who protested want the transfers withdrawn, a meeting with the Police Commissioner and a standard operating procedure for such situations. Bar associations had demanded action against the officers involved. Reports did not say whether either side’s demands had been met.