Allahabad HC stays suspension of Kanpur ACP in sexual harassment case
Allahabad HC stays suspension of Kanpur ACP in sexual harassment case
Lucknow, The Allahabad High Court on Monday stayed the suspension of Assistant Commissioner of Police Kanpur Mohammad Mohsin Khan in a sexual harassment case.
Justice K S Pawar of the Lucknow bench of the high court further directed the state government to file its reply and posted the matter on July 28.
The interim stay came on Khan's plea challenging his suspension order.
“On due consideration to Rule 29 of the UP Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1956, the judgment passed in V N Daipuria case in 2015 and also the judgment rendered in Shahjahan Khan case 2002 the operation of the impugned suspension order is stayed until further orders of the court,” the order said.
Khan's counsel L P Mishra said the additional director general of police on March 6 gave his recommendation for Khan’s suspension without an independent application of mind.
He also disputed the charge of his client having an affair with the complainant woman and argued, "Being in a sexual relationship with another woman despite being married does not constitute misconduct."
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that under Rule 29 of the UP Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1956, entering into a second marriage during the subsistence of the first is deemed misconduct.
"However, merely maintaining a relationship with another woman while still legally married does not amount to misconduct,” he stressed.
The high court in December last year protected the officer from arrest.
A scholar at IIT Kanpur alleged Khan, also pursuing in criminology at the institute, sexually exploited her on the false promise of marriage.
On December 12, 2024, an FIR was lodged against Khan, a 2013-batch Provincial Police Service officer, at Kalyanpur Police Station on charges of sexual relationship with a woman using deceitful means.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
