Manasvi Vashishta, an IIT graduate and ACP, was suspended after leading a rare protest outside Delhi Police headquarters. The protest followed his transfer due to a confrontation with lawyers, sparking unrest among police personnel demanding his reinstatement and better safety protocols.
MANASVI VASHISHTA has come into the limelight after getting suspended for leading a protest outside Delhi Police headquarters on November 2, 2026. In a rare protest, dozens of personnels gathered around gate no. 1 of the headquarters on Jai Singh Road in New Delhi. The officers were demanding reinstatement of Vashishta and Shahdara’s Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector Arun Kumar, who were transferred following an alleged confrontation with lawyers at the police station.
In the protest slogans like “Vardi ka apmaan nahi sahenge” (We will not tolerate the insult of the uniform) were raised, showing distress among the ranks. The following day on November 3, 2026, the Ministry of Home Affairs suspended ACP Vashishta citing “violation of discipline.” Here is the detailed sequence of events and what led to the controversial suspension.
The sequence of events dates back to October 23, 2026, when a confrontation between Lawyers and Police personnel broke out at the Shahdara police station. The scuffle led to Advocate Lalit Bansal allegedly sustaining a serious head injury, followed by several other lawyers reaching the police station and demanding action against ACP Manasvi Vashishta and SHO Arun Kumar. The bar association accused the two cops of threatening lawyers, with some accounts from the lawyers even alleging that Vashishta waved his service revolver during the confrontation.
Following the incident, lawyers launched an indefinite strike across district courts, demanding action against the two police officers and accusing them of misconduct. It was reportedly called off only after Delhi Police transferred Vashishta to the Special Police Unit for Women and Children (SPUWAC) and Kumar to the Security Branch on October 28, 2026. However, the decision sparked unrest among some sections of the police force, eventually culminating in the November 2 protest outside police headquarters.
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court declined to take suo motu cognizance of the alleged threatening remarks made by Vashishta during the confrontation. Instead, the court directed the lawyers to file a formal petition in the matter.
The immediate trigger was the transfer of SDPO/ACP Manasvi Vashishta of Gandhi Nagar and SHO Arun Kumar of Shahdara. The protesting officers saw the decision as a concession to the lawyer community and a way to undermine the authority of the police force. They also demanded assurance of safety of officers inside the police stations with a proper standard operating procedure (SOP).
The five demands raised by the group of officers led by Vashishta were put before the Police Commissioner. These included the reinstatement of Manasvi and Arun Kumar to their previous postings and a method to handle confrontations involving lawyers.
The proposed SOP by the protestors reportedly included the establishment of a protocol to regulate the number of advocates who could enter a police station at a given time, registration of FIRs against lawyers accused of misconduct, and a dedicated grievance-redressal mechanism or cell at police headquarters.
In a video shared online, Vashishta is seen addressing the crowd, questioning how they are expected to protect citizens if they themselves feel threatened and unsafe inside police stations. The gathering continued to sit outside the headquarters for hours before the ACP finally got to meet the commissioner and lay his demands. Vashishta claimed that the meeting was a success before he was suspended the following day on November 3, 2026.
Following his suspension, the former ACP posted a video confirming the Home Ministry order and saying his fight for safety of police personnel won't end. He further showed full faith in the law and order, Home Ministry, and other institutions, saying that the suspension shouldn't dishearten anyone.
Manasvi Vashishta is a 2019-batch officer of the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service (DANIPS). Hailing from Jaipur, Rajasthan, he graduated in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur in 2013.
Before joining DANIPS, he joined Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in 2016. During his four-year tenure, he was posted in Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar. He joined the police service in 2019 and completed his training before being transferred to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2022. Vashishta served as the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in Diglipur and Havelock during his tenure.
He returned to Delhi in December 2024 and subsequently held posts in the Delhi Police Security Unit. He also served as the Personal Security Officer to then-Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, a position he held until Dhankar’s resignation in 2025.
In December 2025, he was posted as ACP Gandhi Nagar in the Shahdara subdivision, the post he held until October 28, 2026. Following the alleged confrontation with the lawyers Vashishta was transferred to SPUWAC, which sparked a protest from a sect of cops. He was subsequently suspended for leading the protest on November 2, 2026.
[Rh/HP]
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