Ramchandra Siras

Ramchandra Siras, born in 1948 in Nagpur, India, was an Indian linguist and author and had worked as a professor at the Aligarh Muslim University, specializing in the Marathi language. He had also been the head of the department of modern Indian languages.He’s been a person who has been both famous and infamous in the public eyes from time to time.

Being a man of wits, he has written several short stories in the Marathi language and even got awarded for the same in the year 2002 with Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad for “ Paya Khalchi Hirawal” ( Grass under my feet) Being suffered from fits at a very young age, he was initially advised against marriage but later when it got cured, and things got under control, he was married, but it seemed to have lasted nearly 20 years and later ended in divorce.

Later in life, he was also charged with sexually harassing a woman, which even made Aligarh Muslim University think over his deployment, but the case got settled soon, even before he could file any response for the same as the case was shortly withdrawn by the lady. Yet another controversy came his way in 2010 when 2 men forcefully entered his house and caught him being intimate with another man whose identity revealed out to be a rickshaw puller.

As a result of the scandal, he got suspended from the university on charges of gross misconduct. It was later, however, found that the men so involved were sent by the university itself. But later he seemed to have won the case against the university, getting back his job since the constitution never prohibited or penalized being homosexual, and this was something which couldn’t be criminalized under any circumstances and seems to be a personal choice of any individual.

Consequently, his story got turned into a movie titled “Aligarh”, which tends to have beautifully covered all the bits and parts of his life. But the rickshaw puller who too ended up becoming a part of the same got scared for his life among all such controversies. Later, on April 7, 2010, in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, he took his last breath. Police initially suspected it to be a suicide, but subsequently doubted a murder, but the case soon got closed for lack of any sufficient evidence.