Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Manasvi Vashistha has been placed under suspension by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for an alleged violation of discipline. The suspension, which carries immediate effect, comes in the wake of a highly publicised confrontation between police personnel and members of the legal fraternity in Delhi. According to an official order, Vashistha is required to remain at his headquarters in the national capital and cannot leave the jurisdiction without obtaining prior permission from the relevant authorities.
The suspension order, issued under Rule 10 of the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965, dictates that Vashistha will not receive his full salary during the period of his absence from duty. Instead, he will be entitled to a subsistence allowance, equivalent to the leave salary he would have drawn if he were on half-pay, plus applicable dearness allowance. This payment is subject to the condition that he submits a certificate confirming he is not engaged in any other remunerative business or profession.
The events leading to this disciplinary action began on October 23, when a dispute arose at the Shahdara Police Station. Following an alleged assault on advocate Lalit Bansal, who sustained a serious head injury, members of the local Bar Association approached the station to demand legal action. The Coordination Committee of All District Courts Bar Associations of Delhi claimed that ACP Vashistha and SHO Arun Kumar had initially assured them that the accused would be arrested. However, when the lawyers returned the following day and discovered the accused had not been taken into custody, a scuffle broke out between the legal representatives and the police officers.
The situation escalated when Vashistha and Kumar were subsequently transferred. This decision prompted a demonstration outside the Delhi Police Headquarters, where approximately 100 officers—including women personnel—gathered to protest against the move. The protesters demanded the reinstatement of the two officers and submitted a list of five demands to Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar. These demands included calls for action against the lawyers involved in the incident and the filing of FIRs against advocates accused of engaging in hooliganism.
In an effort to de-escalate the tensions, Commissioner Anurag Kumar held a meeting on October 30 with representatives from the Bar Council of Delhi and district court associations. The discussions resulted in an agreement to establish a joint coordination and grievance redressal mechanism to handle future conflicts between the two groups. Despite these administrative efforts to restore order, the internal disciplinary proceedings against Vashistha continued, leading to the formal suspension order.
Manasvi Vashistha is a 2019-batch officer of the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service (DANIPS). His professional background includes a tenure as the Personal Security Officer to former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, a role he held until 2025. An alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, where he studied mechanical engineering, Vashistha previously served with the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in regions including Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar. He has also served in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as a Deputy Superintendent of Police before returning to the Delhi Police force in 2024.
During his recent service in Delhi, Vashistha held various key positions, including a posting as ACP in Gandhi Nagar. He has also been involved in high-profile security operations, such as those conducted for the AI Summit and the diplomatic visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin. As the departmental proceedings into the Shahdara incident progress, the suspension remains a critical development for the officer, who is married and a father of two children.
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