‘A wolf in white coat’: Karnataka High Court cancels reinstatement of medical professor

Senior officials face disciplinary action

The High Court also recommended disciplinary action against Dr Virupaksha V, Director of SIMS, and Mohammed Mohsin, Principal Secretary to the Government and Vice Chairman of the institute’s Governing Council, for facilitating Dr Hebbar’s reinstatement.

“We are of the view that they conducted themselves in a manner unbecoming of government servants regarding the sexual abuse and harassment of girl students at SIMS by D Ashwin Hebbar, actively protecting the accused,” the bench stated.

The court noted that the top officials demonstrated total indifference to the victims. “We have no doubt that the Director as well as the Principal Secretary, Department of Medical Education, have been completely insensitive to the honour, dignity, humiliation, harassment, and sexual abuse suffered by the students. They have committed gross misconduct by shielding an accused facing charges of sexually abusing his own students.”

A pattern of complaints and political backing

Dr Hebbar has been named in two separate sexual harassment and molestation cases, the first registered on August 12, 2022, by a junior resident doctor, and the second filed on June 19, 2025, by a postgraduate medical student. He was arrested following both complaints and later released on bail.

While the 2022 complaint before the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) was closed after the complainant withdrew it, leading the High Court to set aside his initial suspension on June 19, 2024—the second complaint in June 2025 resulted in a fresh suspension and an inquiry recommendation by the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) committee.

However, the High Court noted that Dr Hebbar, described as “well-connected and powerful”, leveraged letters from political figures and non-governmental organisations to lobby for his reinstatement.

Prompted by the Principal Secretary, SIMS Director D. Virupaksha submitted an opinion on October 6, 2025, claiming Dr Hebbar was “indispensable” to the institution, while entirely omitting his alleged misconduct.

On November 17, 2025, barely four and a half months into his suspension, the Principal Secretary issued an order reinstating Dr Hebbar and temporarily transferring him to the Haveri Institute of Medical Sciences. The High Court had stayed that transfer on February 9, 2026, during an appeal filed by the institution.

Reflecting on the collapse of institutional safeguards, the bench remarked, “No one could expect justice for the victims when the authorities, who owe a moral and statutory duty to protect the dignity and honour of students, come to the aid of the accused.”

Invoking a couplet by the revered saint Kabir Das, which places a Guru (teacher) on the highest pedestal, the court added, “Gurus like the one involved in this case turn down the entire meaning of Doha (the lyrical verse-format). The misconduct of Dr Ashwin Hebbar, in a professional college in this era, amounts to giving a chilling effect to the spine.”