A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Kerala's Ernakulam district has awarded life imprisonment to three of the six Popular Front of India (PFI) cadres accused in a 2010 attempted murder case involving a professor. All six accused had been convicted under the IPC's UA(P)A and Explosive Substances Acts.
Sajil, Najeeb and MK Nazar were awarded life sentences on Thursday, July 13, along with a fine of Rs 50,000 each. The other three convicted — MK Nausha, PP Moideenkunu and PM Ayoob — have been sentenced to three years imprisonment. The court has also ordered compensation of Rs 4,00,000 to be given to the victim from the fine amount collected, as per a report by IANS.
The six were found guilty of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and carrying out terrorist acts, along with being involved in the conspiracy to kill Professor TJ Joseph by chopping off his right palm.
The professor had allegedly made derogatory remarks about Prophet Mohammed in a question paper prepared for the Malayalam examination for BCom students in Newman College, Thodupuzha, Idukki district. The accused had deemed the question as provocative and had carried out the barbaric daylight attack on the professor in the presence of his family members on July 4, 2010.
The professor was attacked while the family was returning from a church after the Sunday morning mass. The assailants had also hurled a bomb to terrorise the public and escape from the scene. On January 10, 2011, the Kerala Police filed a charge sheet against 27 accused. Subsequently, NIA took over the case and arrested another 20 accused, in a classic example of a 360-degree investigation by the agency. In April 2015, the NIA special court convicted 13 of the accused persons.
