A senior Delhi Police officer is at the centre of two overlapping controversies after a protest at Jantar Mantar. One involves harassment complaints from women journalists. The other is a police case over an allegedly AI-generated video that purported to show the incident. The first is still under investigation, and none of the allegations has been proven.
The row began on October 3, during a protest near Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Three women journalists filed complaints that day alleging sexual harassment by police personnel. One of them named ACP Vivek Bhagat in her complaint. She alleged that when she questioned him about the absence of female police personnel while women protesters were being detained, he physically assaulted her and pushed her back.
A journalist and content creator who goes by Rosy went public on social media. She said she was filming the detention of AISA president Neha Bora when the officer approached her from behind, groped her and shoved her away. Some outlets describe her as an independent journalist. Others say she is associated with the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and question whether she is a journalist at all.
Police did not immediately register an FIR. They said they had sent the cases to the Crime Branch for a “fair and impartial enquiry.” Senior officials reportedly argued that registering immediate cases against officers on law-and-order duty could deter them from working.
The promotion row
The controversy escalated when Bhagat was given Additional DCP charge. The temporary promotion order came during the Crime Branch probe and quickly went viral. The opposition attacked the move. Priyanka Gandhi questioned the Prime Minister and Home Minister over the journalists’ allegations.
Reports differ on what happened next. One says the promotion order was put on hold. Another says that as public outcry mounted, Bhagat himself asked not to take up the additional charge until the inquiry concludes. The Delhi government has said the arrangement involving 12 officers was initiated before the allegations emerged.
The AI-generated video
Police say a separate matter has surfaced. Delhi Police posted a fact-check on X calling a viral “CCTV” image used as evidence against Bhagat fake and AI-generated or manipulated.
On October 6, police announced an arrest. According to police, their social media monitoring unit flagged fabricated visuals showing a senior officer inappropriately touching a woman. They said the video was created on October 3 and posted on October 4. The accused, 24-year-old YouTuber Nadeem Ahmed, is described as an “independent journalist” with 24,000 followers. Police are examining his funding and possible accomplices, and have applied BNS sections including public mischief and forgery. Police say several AI tools were recovered from him and that he admitted creating the material to portray the force negatively, with the motive “to spread anarchy.”
The two matters are legally and factually separate, and the police account of the second does not settle the first. If the video was fabricated, that would discredit the video and anyone who spread it as genuine. It would not by itself prove or disprove what Rosy and the other two women say happened on the ground. One outlet noted that the original allegation has not been independently verified.
