5 Apr 2010

High Court reinstates gay AMU professor

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday revoked the decision of the Aligarh Muslim University to suspend a gay professor who was filmed having sex with a man in his official residence on the campus.

The Press Trust of India reported on Apr 1, 2010:

The Allahabad High Court today stayed the suspension of a Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) professor against whom the disciplinary action was taken following reports of his involvement in a homosexual relationship

A division bench comprising Justice Sunil Ambawani and Justice Kashi Nath Pandey passed the order on a writ petition filed by professor Srinivas Ramchandra Sirasi challenging the suspension order. 

On February 19, AMU vice chancellor P K Abdul Azis had suspended Sirasi, a reader in the Department of Modern Indian Languages, and asked him to vacate the varsity premises accusing him of "misconduct" following reports of his alleged homosexual relation with a rickshaw-puller, which had led to a furore in the minority educational institution. 

In his petition, Sirasi had refuted the charges levelled against him. 

The court, while granting relief to the petitioner, asked the university authorities to file their counter-affidavits.

India