The NIA Court in Kochi on Wednesday framed charges against 29 accused in the case pertaining to the chopping of the right hand of TJ Joseph, a professor of Newman’s College at Thodupuzha in Kerala’s Idukki district, on July 4, 2010 allegedly by activists of Islamist outfit Popular Front of India and its political wing, SDPI.
The accused were charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Explosive Substances Act and with criminal conspiracy, criminal intimidation, causing injuries using lethal weapons, etc. With this, the stage has been set for the start of trial in the case, which was first handled by the Kerala Police and later handed over to the NIA, on April 29.
In a Taliban-model attack on the morning of July 4, 2010, a group of Islamists had chopped off Joseph’s right hand when he was returning home after attending the Sunday Mass at a church at Muvattupuzha, some 30 km away from Kochi, as a ‘punishment’ for setting a test paper which contained certain questions that allegedly blasphemed Prophet Muhammad.