Kochi palm chopping case: NIA court convicts 13

KOCHI: The NIA special court here has convicted 13 people in the sensational palm chopping case of a college professor while letting go 18 other accused.
The case relates to chopping off the right palm of a college professor, TJ Joseph, by a seven-member gang, alleged to be members of Popular Front of India (PFI). It was on July 4, 2010 that a gang attacked Prof TJ Joseph of Newsman College, Muvattupuzha, while he was returning along with his family from church.
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The gang chopped off his right palm in the attack. The attack was carried out by extremist elements after Joseph, a Malayalam teacher at the college, prepared a question paper that reportedly contained an objectionable reference to the Prophet.
As per prosecution case, the attack was carried out in retaliation to Joseph’s ‘blaspheming’ of Prophet Mohammed in a question paper he prepared for his students at Newman College at Thodupuzha, where he was teaching Malayalam. A court had later given a clean chit to the professor on the charge of hurting religious sentiments.