New Delhi: Hours after leading a protest outside and inside the police headquarters, assistant commissioner of police Manasvi Vashistha was suspended by the ministry of home affairs (MHA).
The development comes a day after hundreds of Delhi Police personnel gathered at the police headquarters to protest Vashistha and inspector Arun Kumar ’s transfers after a confrontation between police personnel and lawyers at Shahdara police station on Oct 23.
Police sources said Vashistha has received his suspension letter. However, while speaking to reporters, he had said the mobilisation was an organic call by police personnel and that he had joined it. He said an application had been submitted seeking a platform to present their grievances before senior officers. He said the entry of more than five people wearing black coats should be treated as an unlawful assembly.
Delhi Police, however, described the gathering as a ‘sampark sabha’ (interaction). Lawyers accused the two officers of misbehaviour and alleged that the ACP had brandished his pistol. Vashistha, whose transfer triggered the demonstration, led the protest. He also demanded a cell at the police headquarters to address such incidents, immediate cancellation of bar licences in cases of misbehaviour with police personnel and the deployment of two companies of security forces at every court complex.
Vashistha, previously posted in Gandhi Nagar, was transferred to the Special Police Unit for Women and Children (SPUWAC), while Shahdara SHO Kumar was moved to the security unit.