Policeman accused of sexually harassing journalist gets promotion
Assistant Commissioner of Police Vivek Bhagat, named by a woman journalist who has accused him of sexually harassing her during the October 3 protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Jantar Mantar, was among 12 Selection Grade DANIPS officers given the current duty charge of Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police with immediate effect.
The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi issued the order on October 5, 2026.
Bhagat, currently SDPO of the Connaught Place subdivision in New Delhi District, has been attached to that posting since 2024, placing him in direct charge of law and order around Jantar Mantar, one of the city’s most frequently used protest sites.
An independent journalist identified as Rosy alleged that Bhagat groped and pushed her while she was recording the detention of an AISA activist during the protest, saying he groped her from behind and fled when she screamed. Two other women journalists have since come forward with similar complaints.
Delhi Police said it has received the complaints and forwarded them to the Crime Branch for a fair and impartial enquiry, which will record statements of the complainants and others concerned. No FIR has been registered so far.
Journalist bodies, activists and CJP leaders have demanded immediate registration of an FIR against Bhagat, citing the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench ruling in Lalita Kumari vs Government of UP (2013), which held that registering an FIR is mandatory under Section 154 of the CrPC whenever information discloses a cognizable offence, leaving police no discretion to refuse or delay it.
This is not the first time Bhagat has drawn national attention from events at Jantar Mantar. During the CJP protests in July, Bhagat said he was assaulted by a mob during a student demonstration near the site, sustaining head trauma and broken teeth while attempting to rescue an injured colleague before being evacuated by senior officers. Videos of him describing the alleged assault in an injured condition circulated widely on social media at the time.
Bhagat is a 2017 batch DANIPS officer who secured the 967th rank nationwide in the Civil Services Examination. He graduated with a Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering, now Delhi Technological University, between 2012 and 2016, before joining the civil services. His first independent executive posting came through a DANIPS reshuffle order dated February 4, 2021, as ACP of the Samaypur Badli subdivision in Outer North District.
During his tenure there from early 2021 to mid-2022, Bhagat led a specialised tactical team that cracked two separate unidentified body cases found on consecutive days in Samaypur Badli and Wazirabad in April 2021, using CCTV networks and mobile surveillance to identify both victims and arrest six people within a week.
One case was traced to a contract-style homicide, the other to a fatal street brawl. He also carried out crackdowns on illegal interstate smuggling in the area, before serving as ACP Operations in the District Investigative Unit and later as Aide-de-Camp to the Lieutenant Governor’s Secretariat in 2022.
The remaining 11 officers named in Monday’s order span the 2014 to 2018 batches, including Dr Vikas Sheokand, A Venkatesh, Gursewak Singh, Renu Lata, Vidushi Kaushik, Manu Himanshu, Sakaria Mihir Pravinbhai, Garima Tiwari, Ashish Kumar, Manish Ladla and Rohit Gupta, holding postings across Delhi’s districts and specialised units including special cell, crime and security.
