Promotion put on hold: Delhi government withholds elevation of officer accused of sexually harassing journalist

For the third day running, the national capital's most famous protest address became the scene of a scandal that travelled from a police station to the government's order book. Late on Monday, the Delhi government announced that it was withholding the current-duty charge of Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police given to Assistant Commissioner of Police Vivek Bhagat — the officer a woman journalist has accused of sexually assaulting her during a protest at Jantar Mantar. The climbdown came within hours of the morning order. Earlier on Monday, the Home Department assigned the temporary charge of Additional DCP to 12 DANIPS officers, including Bhagat, a 2018-batch officer posted as Sub-Divisional Police Officer in Connaught Place. The government insisted the proposal had been initiated on August 25, "much before the present set of events", and stressed that the arrangement carried no additional pay, no change in seniority and none of the statutory powers of a regular Additional DCP. That explanation failed to survive the day's outrage. The allegation against Bhagat dates to a protest on October 3 against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, where a woman journalist said she was groped while filming. When she sat at the Parliament Street police station to demand that an FIR be registered, she was instead detained — twice, according to fellow journalists — and no FIR was filed. Journalist bodies reacted with fury. The Press Club of India said it was "shocked and dismayed" by the treatment of the complainant; DIGIPUB, the digital news publishers' association, demanded immediate action against the officers involved. The CPI(M) said the morning order sent a chilling message to women journalists: that state power would protect its own. "Power cannot be allowed to place itself above accountability," the party said. By late evening, the government had retreated — for Bhagat alone. His name was the only one of the twelve whose elevation was held back. The question left hanging is the one the journalist asked at the police station: why was no FIR registered in the first place, and how did an officer under such a cloud come within hours of a bigger chair? The withdrawal answers the second question. The first remains unanswered.