Ramchandra Siras Biography 
Ramchandra Siras was an Indian linguist and author who taught at Aligarh Muslim University. He was a professor at AMU who served as the head of the Department of Modern Indian Languages. He was a Maharashtrian, who taught Marathi at ALU. He wrote poetry and stories in Marathi, and published several books, and was a recipient of Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad. On 8 February 2010, two men forced their way into Siras' house and filmed him having consensual sex with another man. The following day Siras was suspended by AMU for "gross misconduct". His fight for rights created great headlines in news media, and when the suspension was revoked, he was found dead in his apartment.
Ramchandra Siras was a native of Nagpur. He studied psychology and linguistics at Nagpur University. He earned doctorate in Marathi and a master's in psychology, before he joined ALU as a professor in 1988. Siras suffered from fits at a young age. But he later got married and his marriage lasted for 20 decades before they separated. While busy with his teaching career, he wrote several works in Marathi language. He received the literary award from Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad for "Paya Khalchi Hirawal" in the year 2002.
In 1996, AMU charged Siras with sexually harassing a woman. But the case was later withdrawn. On 8 February 2010, two men with cameras forcibly entered his apartment at night and captured his pictures and videos along with a rickshaw puller. They claimed to be reporters of a local channel. He was suspended from AMU the following day, just a few months away from his retirement. When his case reached the court, homosexuality was already legalized in India, and Siras won the case in Allahabad High Court on 1 April 2010.
He got back his job as professor, along with his accommodation, until his retirement. On 7 April 2010, Siras was found dead in his apartment. Police suspected suicide and preliminary results from the autopsy showed traces of poison in his body. Though a case of murder was later registered and 6 men arrested too, the case was closed without resolution after the police failed to find sufficient evidence. Manoj Vajpayee starrer ‘Aligarh’ (2016) was based on his life and incidents happened in Aligarh.
Published: February 03, 2019
Updated: February 03, 2019
