Nothing left to lose, be scared of: Prof whose wrist was severed by PFI men | India News,The Indian Express
On July 4, 2010, Joseph, an Associate Professor and Head of Department of Malayalam at Newman College in Idukki, Kerala, was the target of one of the most vicious attacks by members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) -- 13 of them were convicted by a court.
Over the last decade and more, T J Joseph has relived these moments endlessly. On July 4, 2010, Joseph, an Associate Professor and Head of Department of Malayalam at Newman College in Idukki, Kerala, was the target of one of the most vicious attacks by members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) — 13 of them were convicted by a court. The PFI alleged that a question he had set in an exam was derogatory to Islam.
With the Centre banning the PFI, for Joseph, it’s as if those endless reels are slowing down.
Speaking to The Indian Express from his home in Ernakulam, he says: “I have sought a ban on the PFI several times. There’s no doubt that this is a terrorist organisation that kills, terrorises, that aims to establish an Islamic reign. For me, personally, it’s like when you are watching or playing a sport. The passion is only while the game is on. Now it’s over. That battle is over.”
It has been a long fight for Joseph, one that began with a question on punctuation marks, for which Joseph used an excerpt from an essay by P T Kunju Muhammed. As the row over the question deepened, Joseph went into hiding, his son spent three harrowing days in police custody, angry mobs came after him, and the college management, the Catholic Diocese of Kothamangalam, caved in to pressure and suspended Joseph from service.
Then came the attack. On July 4, while driving home with his sister and mother from the local church, Joseph’s car was waylaid by a gang metres away from his house. After bursting a crude bomb, they pulled Joseph out of the car and hacked repeatedly at him – his leg, his left palm, and as one of the attackers pointed out that it was the “wrong hand”, they turned to the right palm. After a series of blows, his right palm lay severed.
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