Delhi Police ACP Manasvi Vashishta Suspended After Leading Protest Outside Headquarters
Assistant Commissioner of Police Manasvi Vashishta, a DANIPS officer, has been placed under suspension for alleged “violation of discipline” a day after he led a protest by Delhi Police personnel outside the force headquarters in the capital. The suspension, reported on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, comes against the backdrop of an October confrontation at Shahdara police station involving lawyers and police officers, which had already triggered transfers of two officers.
How the Shahdara row began
The sequence of events began on October 23, 2026, at Shahdara police station, where Advocate Lalit Bansal allegedly suffered a serious head injury during a scuffle. Advocate Amulya Ratan was the complainant in the related case. Lawyers who later went to the station seeking action against those accused in the assault alleged that then Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Gandhi Nagar, ACP Vashishta, and Station House Officer Inspector Arun Kumar threatened them. According to those lawyers, Vashishta also displayed or brandished his service revolver.
The allegations prompted the Coordination Committee of All District Courts Bar Associations of Delhi to call an indefinite strike, pressing for action against the officers. On October 28, Delhi Police transferred Vashishta from the Gandhi Nagar subdivision to the Special Police Unit for Women and Children, or SPUWAC, while Arun Kumar was shifted from Shahdara police station to the Security Branch. After the transfers, the lawyers called off their strike.
Police protest outside headquarters
Discontent within sections of the police force over the transfers led to a gathering outside Delhi Police Headquarters on Jai Singh Road on Monday, November 2, 2026. From around 8 a.m., roughly 80 to 150 police personnel, including women officers, assembled near Gate No. 1. Some later reports said the number was higher when senior officers met the group. The personnel held placards and posters and raised slogans including “Bharat Mata Ki Jai,” “Police Ekta Zindabad,” and “Vardi Ka Apmaan Nahi Sahenge.”
Vashishta joined the gathering and addressed those assembled. He said the personnel wanted a meeting with Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar and a standard operating procedure for handling such situations. He was quoted as saying, “Our demands are clear. We need to meet CP sir. There needs to be an SOP to deal with such matters. If this happens to us, how will we fight to save the people of the city.”
The protesters also demanded that the two officers be restored to their previous postings. Other demands reported from the gathering included limiting the number of lawyers allowed into a police station at one time, registering FIRs against lawyers for alleged misconduct toward police personnel, creating a dedicated cell at headquarters to deal with complaints involving lawyers, and deploying personnel at court complexes.
Senior officers, including a Deputy Commissioner of Police, tried to persuade the gathering to disperse. Later, Commissioner Anurag Kumar and other senior officers met the personnel, heard their concerns and, according to some accounts, discussed the possibility of a coordination mechanism with bar associations. The protest drew comparisons with the larger demonstration outside the same headquarters in 2019 after clashes between lawyers and police at Tis Hazari Court.
Suspension of ACP Vashishta
On Tuesday, November 3, Delhi Police sources confirmed that ACP Vashishta had been suspended for “violation of discipline” in connection with his role in leading and addressing the demonstration. Several reports said the action was taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs. No immediate official statement from Delhi Police or the ministry was available in the initial coverage.
Vashishta is described as a DANIPS cadre officer. Some reports identified him as belonging to the 2022 batch and said he is originally from Rajasthan, with an IIT Kharagpur background.
The developments have brought renewed attention to tensions between police personnel and the legal community in Delhi, particularly over how incidents involving advocates are handled at police stations and in court complexes. As of Tuesday morning, the matter remained fluid, with details of the suspension order and any wider administrative response still awaited.
