Aligarh:
Dr Sreenivas Siras, a Marathi professor at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), was sacked after being taped having sex with another man. He's now ready to go back, after the Allahabad High Court ordered his reinstatement.
"Now, I can go back to my beloved university," says Siras.
The conservative institution had accused Dr Siras of grave misconduct, when a secretly shot videotape surfaced, showing him having sex with a rickshaw puller. The Court has ordered AMU to not just take him back, but provide him accommodation till he retires later this year.
"I am happy because I have been judged in a wrong way. I have already said that I am gay. I am the same man, with the same qualification, with the same features and personality," says a determined Siras.
His experience has been bitter-sweet - bitter after the treatment the university handed him, and sweet with the support of his students and colleagues. "My friends and colleagues gave me courage and confidence, not just sympathy. My students helped me too; they love me very much," he says.
Just as he had packed up and moved to Nagpur overnight, Professor Siras is now getting ready to go back and teach his students - this time with a marked difference.
He'll be returning as a proud gay man.