BENGALURU: Cancelling the order revoking the suspension of Dr Ashwin Hebbar as Associate Professor of Shimoga Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS), the Karnataka High Court directed the secretary of the Ministry of Personnel and Training, Union of India, to take disciplinary action against IAS officer Mohammed Mohsin, Additional Chief Secretary of the Department of Medical Education, for protecting Dr Ashwin by reinstating him despite serious charges of sexual harassment by a medical student.
Terming Dr Ashwin Hebbar 'a wolf in white coat' and that his misconduct in a professional college amounts to giving a "chilling effect to the spine", the court also directed the state government to take up departmental proceedings against SIMS Director Dr Virupakshappa, for recommending Mohsin to reinstate Dr Ashwin, despite him facing serious charges of sexual abuse and harassment by his own students.
"We are of the view that they (Mohsin and Virupakshappa) have conducted themselves unbecoming of government servants in the matter of sexual abuse/harassment of girl students of SIMS by Dr Ashwin Hebbar and protecting the accused... We have no manner of doubt that the director as well as principal secretary have been totally insensitive to the honour, dignity, humiliation, harassment and sexual abuse suffered by the students. They themselves have committed gross misconduct in protecting an accused who is facing charges of sexually abusing and harassing his own students," the court observed.
A division bench of Justice DK Singh and Justice TM Nadaf passed the order while allowing the appeal filed by SIMS, challenging the interim order by a single judge staying Dr Ashwin's transfer.
The bench dismissed his two petitions questioning his temporary transfer from SIMS to Haveri Institute of Medical Sciences (HIMS) by revoking his suspension, and resolutions dated March 6, 2026 which accorded post facto approval for his transfer.
On the interim order passed by a single judge, the court division bench observed: "We are also at pains to note that the writ court has also been insensitive while staying the transfer of Dr Ashwin Hebbar without having any concern for how the students who had faced sexual harassment, humiliation and pain at the hands of Ashwin would feel, facing him every day in the institution."
While cancelling the revocation order dated November 17, 2025, the court also directed the secretary, National Medical Council, to take appropriate action against Ashwin and cancel his licence if he is found guilty. "He shall remain suspended till the disciplinary inquiry gets completed and appropriate order of punishment is passed. However, he shall remain attached with Haveri Institute of Medical Sciences," the court observed.
In less than a year after the first case of sexual harassment was reported, a second-year postgraduate student in the Department of General Surgery, filed a sexual harassment complaint against Ashwin for an incident that occurred on June 14, 2025, at a dinner party in a hostel convened by a final-year postgraduate student.
Dr Ashwin insisted that the student invited the victim to the party. She was sexually harassed after she was asked to sit next to him. An FIR was registered against him on June 20, and he was arrested and subsequently suspended. The POSH committee under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, submitted a final report indicating that he is guilty.
The court noted that it appears Ashwin is a well-connected and powerful person. He got several letters from political persons as well as NGOs, etc., for revocation of his suspension. Buckling under pressure, Mohsin asked the SIMS director to make a recommendation to revoke the suspension. The director was obliged to write an encomium for Ashwin, without mentioning any word about his misconduct, past and present, in his letter, the court added.