Lucknow, Feb. 16: An Aligarh Muslim University professor due to retire this year has been suspended for alleged homosexual acts in his campus residence, the charge sparking a row with activists pointing out that gay sex was no longer a crime.
The February 10 order against Professor S.R. Siras came seven months after Delhi High Court decriminalised adult consensual intercourse in any form in a landmark judgment now waiting for the Supreme Court’s verdict.
The university has asked Siras, who headed the department of modern Indian languages, to vacate his official residence.
“Yes, he has been charged with indulging in homosexuality in his official residence on the AMU campus,” spokesperson Rahat Abrar said. “He will now have to face a committee set up by the vice-chancellor.”
A bitter Siras today told The Telegraph he would leave Aligarh, where he has taught for 22 years, and return to his hometown Nagpur.
“I am 64 and in fragile health. The charge of active homosexuality levelled against me is absurd,” he said. “When the high court has decriminalised homosexuality, how can the university level such a charge?”
Siras, who has a PhD in modern Marathi fiction, said someone in his department had “framed” him.
“I remember that on February 6 evening, some unknown men barged into my residence and began recording me while I was talking to a young man I didn’t know. Before leaving, these men threatened to expose me. I didn’t believe them. But my worst fears came true when the university handed me the suspension letter.”
AMU sources said on February 8, some unknown complainants submitted to the VC’s office a video-recording of the professor “in an indecent posture” with a young man, said to be a rickshaw-puller in his twenties. On February 10, the authorities decided to suspend the professor.
“I was not asked anything. I was called by the VC’s office and handed over the suspension letter,” Siras said.
“To sound more real, the university might have accused me of indulging in passive homosexuality as I am too old for active homosexuality. But is that an offence?”
Mumtaz Alam, a gay activist in Lucknow, said homosexuality was still being branded a crime by some orthodox scholars unwilling to change their mindset.
A colleague of Siras said he should fight back. But Siras has refused to move court. “What is the point? They did this earlier against me in 1996, suspending me for the same fake charge and then revoked it.”
AMU spokesperson Abrar said Siras could defend himself before the disciplinary committee by citing the court order. “But this much we can tell you, the video clips we have received along with a complaint letter are really indecent.”
