Delhi Govt’s Clarification on Additional DCP Charge to ACP Accused of Harassing Journalist
The Delhi government clarified that the proposal to confer additional duty charge on these officers was initiated on August 25.
By Sakshi
New Delhi, October 6: The Delhi government late on Monday withheld its order assigning current duty charge (CDC) of the post of Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police to Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Vivek Bhagat, who has been accused of sexually harassing a female journalist during a protest against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi.
Twelve DANIPS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli Police Service) personnel, including Bhagat, were assigned CDC of Additional DCP by a Delhi government order issued earlier in the day.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the Delhi government clarified that the proposal to confer additional duty charge on these officers was initiated on August 25, "much before the present set of events". The orders were issued after due approval on October 5.
It added that the CDC assignment is a short-term arrangement with no statutory or financial benefits, and officers assigned CDC cannot exercise any statutory duties of the regular incumbents.
Govt Says ACP Requested
However, ACP Vivek Bhagat "of his own volition, has requested not to avail the current duty charge assignment, till a full enquiry has been conducted in the matter of alleged harassment of women journalists and such enquiry has been satisfactorily concluded", the post read.
Accordingly, the earlier order is being modified and will be reissued with respect to the 11 remaining officers, it added.
Earlier in the day, ACP Bhagat, who has been accused of sexually harassing a woman journalist during the October 3 protest at Jantar Mantar, was assigned the rank of Additional DCP, drawing sharp reactions from various quarters.
During the October 3 protest against alleged irregularities in the Election Commission's functioning and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, three female journalists accused Delhi Police officers of sexual harassment.
After receiving the complaints, the Delhi Police transferred them to the Crime Branch for further investigation.
(Inputs From PTI)
