Suspended Kanpur ACP Mohsin Khan Faces Sexual Harassment Probe After IIT PhD Scholar's Allegations

When Mohsin Khan, a 2013-batch Provincial Police Service officer serving as Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in Kanpur, was suspended on March 13, 2025, it wasn’t just another administrative move—it was the collapse of a public image built on authority and trust. The suspension followed a damning report by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), triggered by allegations from a 26-year-old female PhD scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-K). What began as a private betrayal turned into a public reckoning, exposing how power, deception, and institutional silence can collide—with consequences that ripple far beyond one officer’s career.

The Allegations That Shook IIT Kanpur

The survivor, enrolled in a PhD program focused on cybercrime and criminology, first approached IIT-K administration and local police on November 27, 2024. She claimed Khan, who had presented himself as a divorced man seeking a new relationship, was in fact married with a five-year-old daughter. The emotional manipulation, she alleged, went further: he used false promises of marriage to gain her trust, then engaged in sexual relations under false pretenses—a crime under Section 375 of the IPC, which criminalizes sexual intercourse obtained through deceit. On December 12, 2024, she filed her first FIR at the Kalyanpur police station. When nothing happened, she filed a second FIR on December 24, 2024, after realizing the initial complaint had been sidelined.

Legal Chess: Court Stays and Counter-Attacks

Khan didn’t wait to be arrested. On December 16, 2024, he petitioned the Allahabad High Court for a stay, which was granted on December 19, blocking his arrest and the filing of a chargesheet. It was a tactical win—but it also fueled public outrage. The scholar, undeterred, wrote a direct letter to DGP Prashant Kumar and the Additional Director General of Law and Order, demanding Khan’s dismissal and vowing to see justice through. Her letter, officials say, was the turning point. Within weeks, the SIT was formed under Police Commissioner Akhil Kumar, tasked with investigating both the harassment claims and a counter-complaint.

That counter-complaint came from Suhaila Saif, Khan’s wife. She accused the scholar of forcibly entering their official residence in Rawatpur on December 1, 2024, while her parents and newborn child were present. On a Wednesday in early 2025, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court ordered the registration of an FIR against the scholar for alleged threats and trespassing. Sub-Inspector Pushpraj Singh was assigned to investigate. The IIT-K administration, meanwhile, had already terminated Khan’s PhD enrollment four months prior—on the DGP’s recommendation.

The Suspension and the Path Forward

The SIT’s report, submitted to DGP Prashant Kumar on March 12, 2025, concluded that the sexual harassment allegations were credible enough to warrant immediate suspension. Khan, who had been attached to the DGP headquarters in Lucknow since December 2024, was formally suspended the next day. His posting to the Collector Ganj range in Kanpur was revoked. A departmental inquiry will now determine whether he faces termination, demotion, or other penalties. He remains under administrative supervision in Lucknow, not behind bars.

The Allahabad High Court hearing on March 20, 2025 will be pivotal. Will the court lift the stay on the criminal investigation? Or will legal technicalities delay justice further? The survivor’s legal team is preparing to argue that the stay was granted on procedural grounds, not on the merits of the case. Meanwhile, the counter-FIR against her remains active, raising questions about whether the system is being weaponized to silence victims.

Why This Case Matters Beyond One Officer

This isn’t just about one man’s misconduct. It’s about the culture that lets it happen. A police officer, trained to uphold the law, allegedly exploited a young scholar’s vulnerability. IIT-Kanpur, a prestigious institution, failed to act swiftly when the complaint first surfaced. The police response was sluggish. Only after direct intervention from top officials did the SIT form. And now, the accused’s wife has filed a counter-complaint—something that often happens in high-profile cases, but rarely with such timing and precision.

Experts say this case could become a litmus test for how India handles sexual harassment allegations involving powerful men in law enforcement. “When the police are supposed to protect victims, but one of their own becomes the predator, the system’s credibility is at stake,” says Dr. Meera Sharma, a gender law specialist at the National Law University, Delhi. “The fact that the survivor went public, wrote to the DGP, and kept pushing—despite the stay and the counter-FIR—is extraordinary. She didn’t give up.”

What Comes Next?

The departmental inquiry will likely take months. The criminal case, if the court lifts the stay, could take years. Meanwhile, the scholar continues her PhD under heightened security. IIT-Kanpur has pledged to review its internal grievance mechanisms. The Uttar Pradesh Police have promised “zero tolerance” for misconduct by officers in positions of authority.

But the real test won’t be in courtrooms or suspension orders. It will be in whether institutions—police, universities, courts—learn to act faster, not just when the media is watching, but when a quiet voice first speaks up.