Ten members of an Islamic radical organisation were on Friday sentenced to eight years’ rigorous imprisonment by the Special NIA court in Kochi for chopping off the right hand of a Kerala college professor — TJ Joseph — five years ago for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Muhammad in a question paper he had set.
Five of these ten convicts had directly taken part in the brutal attack on the professor and the other five were participants in the conspiracy. Three other accused, who provided indirect support to the conspiracy, were sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. The court, which had on April 30 pronounced the 13 men as guilty, also slapped a fine of Rs8 lakh on them. The amount will be given to Professor Joseph.
The court had concluded hearing arguments over punishment for the convicts on May 5. All those convicted were activists of the radical Islamic outfit, Popular Front of India (PFI). If the punishment awarded to each of the ten main convicts for the specific charges on them is considered, the imprisonment would come to about 20 years but the punishment would run concurrently, the court said. The period of detention would be considered as part of the jail term, said the court, which observed that the crime committed by the convicts had no justification.
Joseph, then a Malayalam professor at Church-run Newman College at Thodupuzha in Idukki district, was attacked by a group of PFI activists on July 4, 2010... for blaspheming the Prophet in a question paper he set.. He was returning home with his mother and sister after attending Sunday Mass at a church in Muvattupuzha, Ernakulam The assailants chopped off the right hand of the professor with an axe and threw it into a vacant plot nearby. Prof Joseph also suffered hack injuries in his left hand and leg. later, a local court ruled that the question paper he had set had not contained any blasphemy.
NIA Court judge P Sasidharan on April 30 acquitted 18 of the total 31 accused, who had faced trial, for want of evidence. There were a total of 37 accused in the list drawn up by the NIA. Five of them, including first accused Sawad, who had chopped off the professor’s hand, and MK Nasser, accused of being the chief conspirator behind the attack, are still absconding.
The NIA had charged the accused under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including 120, 143, 148 (riot, unlawful assembly), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 323 (hurt) and 307 (attempt to murder) apart from Section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act. The agency had also slapped charges on the accused under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).