The mayor of Aligarh, Shakuntala Bharti, on Sunday said that they would not let the Manoj Bajpayee starrer 'Aligarh' based on homosexuality to run in the cinema halls of the city and alleged that an attempt has been made to defame the city.

"We are protesting against the screening of this film in Aligarh cinema halls because we feel that it was a conspiracy to defame the city by naming a film on homosexuality as 'Aligarh'. What was the need to do this? What was the intention behind naming the movie as 'Aligarh'?" Bharti told ANI.

"There are infinite titles which could have been used for the movie. But why only Aligarh? We will not let run the film in the city at any cost," she added.

The critically-acclaimed film, Aligarh, which is based on Professor Ramchandra Siras who was suspended from AligarhMuslimUniversity in 2010 after he was filmed, having consensual sex with a man, has been objected by a group called the Millat Bedari Muhim Committee in Aligarh.

Jasim Mohd, secretary of the MBMC, said it was wrong to name the movie as 'Aligarh'.

"We don't have objection with the film but we object to its title. In the future, the name of Aligarh will be associated with homosexuality," he told ANI.