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 MHA order, dated Nov 2, said: “… The competent authority, in exercise of the powers conferred under Rule 10 of the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965, hereby places Manasvi Vashistha, DANIPS (2019), under suspension with immediate effect.”It further ordered that during the suspension period, Vashistha’s headquarters shall be Delhi and he shall not leave Delhi without permission from the competent authority. During the suspension period, Vashistha would be entitled to a subsistence allowance equivalent to the leave salary he would have drawn, had he been on leave on half-average pay or half pay, along with dearness allowance, if admissible on the basis of such leave salary.Police sources said Vashistha has received his suspension letter.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.Delhi Police, however, described the gathering as a ‘sampark sabha’ (interaction).The transfers followed an alleged scuffle in which an advocate suffered a serious head injury.Lawyers accused the two officers of misbehaviour and alleged that the ACP had brandished his pistol.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.Vashistha, whose transfer triggered the demonstration, led the protest. 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.Addressing the gathering, the ACP called for a clear standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with lawyers entering police stations.He said the entry of more than five people wearing black coats should be treated as an unlawful assembly. 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.
