Kerala teacher gets job back after wife’s suicide
It is saddening to see how often it takes a tragedy for some individuals and organisations to be moved to take corrective action. On Saturday, the Kothamangalam Diocese of Kerala's Catholic Church re-instated Mr TJ Joseph — more than three years after it wrongly suspended him for preparing a question paper that allegedly hurt Muslim sentiments and provoked Islamists to chop his hands off; and three days after his tormented wife committed suicide fearing financial trouble ahead. Had only the church acted sooner, perhaps an innocent life could have been saved. Instead, it was only after the death of Salomi Joseph on March 19, which sparked widespread protests from within and outside the Christian community, that the church administration gave into popular demand and reluctantly brought Mr Joseph back into the fold. The Joint Christian Council, an umbrella organisation of Christian outfits, for instance, demanded last week that charges of abetting suicide be levied against the church-run management of Newman's College in Thodupuzha. The All Kerala Private College Teachers' Association also supported the Joseph family and called for legal recourse. Several other leading intellectuals and civil society members too piled pressure on the church management. All of it put together ensured that Mr Joseph has been allowed to return to service, just about a week before he is slated to retire on March 31. The professor will now be able to access his retirement benefits that will give him and his family an opportunity to fend off the many financial troubles that plagued the last years of Salomi Joseph.
But that should not take away from the fact that Mr Joseph's long and arduous fight against the church authorities that claimed the life of his wife even, is indicative of a deep-rooted social malaise. For one, the church had little reason to delay Mr Joseph's re-instatement once the courts had cleared him. On November 13, 2013, the Thodupuzha Chief Judicial Magistrate court absolved him of charges under Section 295 of the IPC (causing communal disharmony), which should have made his suspension null and void. That the management delayed his return to service for four months after the court verdict shows that either it was trying to avoid the financial burden of Mr Thomas's retirement package or the church had given in to pressures from the Islamists who clearly are still baying for the professor's blood, or both. Either way, it reflects poorly on the church management which astonishingly has never cared to take a stand in favour of Mr Joseph. When Islamists attacked him in a most barbaric fashion, the church toed their line and suspended the professor from service, instead of having supported him in his fight for justice. The political angle in this case also cannot be ignored. Those who attacked Mr Joseph reportedly belonged to the Popular Front of India, an organisation hardly known for promoting communal harmony.