Mumbai:
After a candlelight memorial was held in Mumbai over the weekend, outraged academics, supporters, gays and concerned citizens have started an online signature campaign demanding justice in the death of Dr Srinivas Ramchandra Siras, the gay professor from the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
The petition is addressed to President Pratibha Patil as she is the chancellor of the AMU.
Harish Iyer, gay rights activist said, "It is absolutely appalling. We want those who are responsible for driving him to suicide, to be held for culpable homicide."
The body of 62-year-old Siras, a reader in Modern Indian Languages, was found on the bed in his private apartment outside the university.
Siras, who hailed from Maharashtra and taught Marathi, was placed under suspension by AMU Vice Chancellor P K Abdul Aziz on charges of homosexuality at his house inside the campus after a sting operation by a television channel which exposed him having sexual relations with a rickshaw puller.
The Allahabad High Court later revoked the suspension and ordered his reinstatement after he filed an appeal against the university action.
Activist Lesley Esteves of Voices against Section 377, Delhi, said India's gay and lesbian community would pursue justice for the professor. "The professor was denied dignity to life and now he has been denied dignity in death too," he added.
The case has sparked a global outrage. A signatory, Raj S writes, "As a former Indian citizen and someone who came out of the closet in the US, I find it shameful that we have to cope with this horror in modern-day India."
Aphia Kumar, another signatory adds, "To sit quiet and let this pass unnoticed is a crime that we commit."
Almost 800 persons have signed the petition by now. Many have also blamed the AMU University in the petition. Mandira Jaisimha from Hyderabad said, "I am appalled, disgusted and speechless." But Graham Binning from Ohio, captures the mood when he warns, "The world is watching, India."