Author, historian and queer rights activist Saleem Kidwai died at his Lucknow home on Monday. He was 70.
Born in 1951 in Lucknow, Kidwai was the co-author of Same-Sex Love in India: Readings from Literature and History. A copy of the book, published in 2001, was placed before the Supreme Court, while it heard petitions against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which earlier criminalised consensual homosexuality, according to the Hindustan Times.
The British-era law was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2018.
Some of his works include Ship of Sorrows, a translation of Urdu writer Qurratulain Hyder’s book Safina-e-gham-e-dil; Song Sung True: A memoir and The Mirror of Wonders and other tales.
Kidwai was a professor of history at Delhi University’s Ramjas College till 1993. He later became an independent scholar, The Indian Express reported.
Several authors and members of the LGBTQ community took to social media to pay their respects to Kidwai.
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