'Terrorist Act': NIA Court Hands Life Term To Three For Chopping Off Kerala Professor's Hand

Special NIA court judge Anil K Bhaskar sent Sajil, Nasar, and Najeeb to a life term after convicting them in a 2010 case in which a Kerala college professor's hand was chopped off.

Representative Photo | The Special NIA court remarked that the accused tried to establish a parallel religious judicial system which is "absolutely illegal."

Source : Getty Images

A special NIA court in Kerala on Thursday sentenced three of the six persons convicted in the sensational 2010 case, in which a Kerala college professor's hand was chopped off, to life imprisonment. The court termed the incident as a terrorist act, news agency PTI reported. The right hand of T J Joseph, professor of Newman College in Thodupuzha in Idukki district, was chopped off by alleged activists of the now-banned radical Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) on July 4, 2010.

"The act of the accused is a challenge to the secular fabric of our nation," the Special NIA court stated, as per PTI. It also remarked that the accused tried to establish a parallel religious judicial system which is "absolutely illegal."

Special NIA court judge Anil K Bhaskar sent Sajil, Nasar and Najeeb to a life term after convicting them the previous day for offences under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Indian Penal Code and the Explosive Substances Act in the second phase of the trial in the case.

In the first phase of the trial, 10 persons were convicted for offences under the UAPA and the Explosive Substances Act and the IPC, and three others were found guilty of harbouring the offenders.

Convicting the three, the court noted that the second accused Sajil took part in the attack while the third accused Nasar was the main conspirator in the case, and the fifth accused Najeeb had planned the "terrorist act" but did not take part in it.

The attack took place when the professor was returning home with his family after attending Sunday mass at a church in Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district.

The attackers, a group of seven people, pulled the professor out of the vehicle, assaulted him and then the main accused Savad chopped off Joseph's right hand. The main accused is still absconding.

As per PTI's report, the police officials who initially probed the case said that the accused wanted to kill Joseph for alleged derogatory remarks about a religion in a question paper he set for the BCom semester examination at Newman College.

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