National NEWS
AMU Professor Put under Suspension for Being Gay
February 18, 2010 Visionmp.com news service
An Aligarh Muslim University professor, who was shortly to retire, has been suspended on charges of being gay, reported Times of India.
Dr Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, reader and chairman of Modern Indian Languages at AMU, was suspended after some students installed cameras to catch him having consensual sex with a rickshaw puller in his campus home and sent the video film to university officials, said report.
Dr Siras now says he won’t challenge his suspension and would voluntarily leave, said report.
Professor’s decision not to question his suspension came as a relief to AMU officials, who are more than interested to bury the ‘embarrassing episode’ as it could raise a serious issue of gay rights on the campus since the professor wasn’t accused of any wrongdoing or criminal action. Consensual sex with a same-sex partner isn’t a crime in itself.
“Siras was captured on camera having sex with a rickshaw-puller. It’s a scandal that no institution of repute can overlook. Therefore he was placed under suspension on February 9 by the order of the VC, Prof P K Abdul Azis,” AMU public relations officer Rahat Abrar was quoted as saying.
“Dr Siras lived in a house allotted to him in the medical colony on the AMU campus. On February 8, he was home in the company of a young rickshaw-puller from Jamalpur area of the town. Since the door was open, two reporters from a local TV channel barged into the house and filmed him and his companion. The video clippings were then sent to AMU authorities who were constrained to proceed against Siras,” he was quoted as saying.
AMU registrar Dr VK Abdul Jalil served a memo on Siras on February 9 under rule 403-C of the statute of the university after a prima facie case of ‘gross misconduct’’ was made out against him, said report.
However, Siras was quoted as saying: “Let them say what they want to. I am not going to offer any clarification. You don’t have to abuse back if someone abuses you. I am already on the verge of retirement and, therefore, would rather be gone than to stretch the issue.”
Report said that the university authorities feel that it ‘is the only respectable and sensible option under the unfortunate circumstances’.
Comment
The Delhiwala Blog
Suhasini Haider's Blog at ibnlive.in.com
The Best car Pictures
Orkut funny scraps, music scraps
Riaz on Sat, 20th Feb 2010 9:28 pm
Varsity paid for sting on gay prof
India Today: Lucknow February 19, 2010
A homophobic Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) administration had hired four TV crew to trespass into the house of one of its senior teachers and film him allegedly having sex with a man.
Though the Delhi High Court legalised consensual homosexuality and the Supreme Court declined to stay the order, Dr Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras was allegedly suspended for having consensual sex.
Vice-chancellor Dr P. K. Abdul Aziz claimed that most of the faculty members wanted to oust Siras, 64, a reader of Marathi fiction and chairman of the Modern Indian Languages department. ” Such acts vitiate the atmosphere on the campus,” he said.
………..
“I don’t know how they will substantiate the charges used to suspend me. I have
consulted a lawyer to decide my future plan,” said Siras, a scholar from Nagpur and a well- known essayist. “I can’t understand what should I do when two crimes have taken place against me. Some people barged into my house without my permission and then the vice- chancellor suspended me against the law of the land.” A source in the AMU said some executive council members had taken the consent of V- C Aziz before hiring the journalists to conduct the sting operation. “The TV crew were given information about the presence of a youth inside Siras’s official residence.
The journalists barged into his house, took some shots and escaped before Siras could understand what was happening. A senior member of the university pooled in money from some of the council members and paid the four Rs 20,000 for the two- minute video recording,” the source added.
AMU spokesperson Rahat Abrar conceded that the four were hired. “I have seen the clip and believe it’s enough to suspend him under Rule 403- C of the AMU statute on the grounds of gross misconduct,” he said. “ We are preparing a chargesheet against Siras. He can present his case before the disciplinary committee. ……………………
……………………………..
For complete news visit:
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/StoryPrint?sId=84740&secid=114&page=null#
ramaswamy on Sun, 18th Apr 2010 4:33 pm
If most of the teachers and students in the campus of AMU want the Dr.Azis to commit suicide, will he do that ? There are many things that cannot be decided just based on majority opinion.