The death of Professor S R Siras, a reader in the Department of Modern Indian Languages at Aligarh Muslim University, has not seen the end of the well-deserved negative attention that the university has received after its deplorable persecution of the senior scholar and poet. Despite the university coming out publically regarding Siras's suspension and eviction from his campus housing, allegedly on the basis of a tape of his sexual relationship with a rickshaw puller while in his 20s, the story remains shrouded in mystery. In fact, no sex tape has materialised, something that AMU officials were forced to admit in court, thus implying that they had dismissed Siras without evidence of an action that is, let's be clear, not criminal to begin with.
What has emerged is that three journalists from the Voice of Nation had broken into Siras's house, in all likelihood working with highly-placed officials in the university. Soon after, Siras was ejected from his campus home and job, and outed in the press. Thereafter, the police repeatedly refused to file an FIR until ordered to do so by the High Court, and the elderly man was even denied health care after local newspapers ran the story.
Allegations now abound that the sting operation may have been an attempt to deflect attention from the university's misallocation of funds, twice investigated by the Office of the President of India. This included INR 12 million for Vice-Chancellor P K Abdul Aziz's lodgings, among several other misappropriations. When Headlines Today spoke to Syed Adil Murtaza, one of the journalists involved, he stated, "We didn't give it too much of thought. We thought we were exposing the filth of the society." In this episode of Love, Sex aur Dhoka they've managed just that, though not in the way they intended, with the late Siras coming out clean. Belatedly, the police have also lodged charges against the three journalists and three AMU officials.
In other news of illicit love affairs, it is no wonder Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik want to live in Dubai. With the media in both India and Pakistan going berserk over the celebrity pairing – and the 'scandal' of Shoaib's alleged telephonic marriage to someone else a few years ago – the couple have been under intense scrutiny, with camera crew parked permanently outside Sania's Hyderabad home. The impounding of the passport of the handsome bridegroom, a first wife materialising (first denied and later hastily divorced), and outrageous statements by Bal Thackeray against the vivacious tennis star all created potent masala for the hungry media. Pakistani investigative journalists even hunted down Shoaib's kindergarten mates, who vouched for what a decent guy he was; while Sania was given character certificates as a 'good Indian girl' by her schoolteachers. Once all the hoopla dies down, however, they hope to go back to being internationally renowned sports leading quiet lives.