Blasphemy On Radical Cruelty:
Attack On Professor Was More Dangerous Than Salman Rushdie; Right hand cut off, inflicted many wounds on the body.
Salman Rushdie was attacked in New York on Friday. Rushdie's 1988 book, The Satanic Verses. It means 'satanic verses' in Hindi. The book angered Islamic fundamentalists. Iran's supreme leader has issued a fatwa to kill Rushdie. 34 years later, a 24-year-old man tried to kill Rushdie.
A similar incident happened in Kerala 12 years ago. Here the target of the fundamentalists was TJ Joseph, who taught in the college. There was no fatwa against Joseph, but he was attacked 4 times. Both Rushdie and Joseph were accused of hurting religious sentiments and blasphemy.
The link of Popular Front of India, ie PFI, was revealed in the attack on Joseph. The name of this organization has also recently been associated with cases of anti-national activities and inciting violence. The attack on Joseph was the first incident in India when the name of the PFI was linked in a case against blasphemy.
Professor TJ Joseph lived in Ernakulam district of Kerala. The house was in Muvattupuzha area. Professor Joseph had written the name 'Mohammed' in the question paper prepared for the examination. The 11th question recorded in the paper for the B.Com second year examination became the basis for the sacrilege of the Prophet.
After this the radicals started looking for Professor Joseph. After 4 months on 4th July Joseph was going to church. On the way, 8 people broke down on Joseph with sword and knife. Joseph's life was disrupted by this incident.
Professor TJ Joseph is currently in Ireland. From there, he has narrated his ordeal in a special conversation with Bhaskar. Professor Joseph does not know Hindi and English. His words in Malayalam were followed by his daughter Amy. He doesn't want to appear on the video. The reason being, the fear of PFI attack is still there. The NIA is investigating the attack on them and they do not want any obstruction in the investigation.
Read what Professor Joseph told us…
'I left home for church. Mother and sister were in the car. The wife and son were to come after a while. Suddenly some people surrounded my car. I was in the driving seat. He broke the window of the car. Dragged me out
When my sister and mother shouted, they caught them too. Then everyone broke down on me. He inflicted several blows on my left hand with sword and knife. Then one of them shouted - this is the left hand. Now his knife and sword started running on my right hand. They were saying that you have used this hand to insult the Prophet. That's why you should never write again with this hand.
Joseph says that incident destroyed my life. Some neighbors ran to save me. By then the attackers had fled leaving me almost dead. My son and wife came running. I just told my son to take me to the hospital. The incident took place in Muvattupuzha area of Ernakulam district. Just a short distance from my house. My condition was getting worse. The local hospital immediately referred me to Kochi. There the surgery lasted for 16 hours.
The matter started with a question asked in the paper
according to Professor Joseph, it all started in March 2010. I used to teach at Newman College. There were second year exams. I had to set the question paper. I set up a query to test for punctuation i.e. comma, semicolon, apostrophe. 11th question of the paper.
Film director PT Kunju Mohammed's book was Thirakathyude, Reethi Shastram. The book was published by Kerala State Institute of Languages. I took one paragraph from the book for the question paper. Kunju Mohammed had taken the content for this book from his film 'Garasam'.
In the book, a man suffering from schizophrenia talks to God in anger. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder. I took a paragraph from the book for my question. The name of the person suffering from schizophrenia in the book was Naseeruddin. I named him 'Mohammed' matching the name of PT Kunju Mohammed. That was the only crime.
The fundamentalists did not like this. Protests started only a week after the exam. Paper started being distributed in sensitive areas. They thought I had written the name of the Prophet.
There was an arrest in blasphemy, Joseph, who was in jail for a week,
says that even within a week, the matter escalated. I was afraid that radical Islamic organizations might not be involved in this. If this happens then it will be difficult to handle. And the same happened. The college also did not support me. I was asked to reply in writing. I gave, but perhaps my opponents were not ready to listen.
In early April, I spent a week in jail. Kerala Police imposed section 295 of IPC on me. This section is charged for hurting religious faith. I was arrested on charges of blasphemy. However, later the bail was found.
4 attacks in two months, college sacked
Joseph told that the first attack on me happened on 7th May, a month and a half after the question paper was out. The second attack on the morning of 17 May, the third 28 May and the fourth 4 July 2010. I survived the first three attacks. The fourth attack was done with planning, I could not survive in it. Me, my job, my family were all ruined.
What the attackers did to me was very cruel, but what the church and my acquaintances did was even more brutal. Letters were written and read against me in the church. Entry of me and my family was stopped. They were scared of PFI. Many of my friends and acquaintances stopped visiting us. Worse yet, when the church-managed college first suspended, then sacked me.
Wife broken by social boycott Suicide in 2014
Wife Salomi was broken due to loss of job and social boycott. He committed suicide on 19 March 2014 after suffering mental pressure for 4 years. The family is now completely broken. Salomi embraced death when she was 48 years old. Joseph is about 49 years old.
I wrote the book with the left hand, so that the world would know the truth
, according to Joseph, I wrote my biography in Malayalam. Its English translation is called A Thousand Cuts: An Innocent Question and Deadly Answers. In Hindi it means 'thousand wounds: an innocent question and its deadly answer'. I wanted to tell the world what happened to me.
At that time the local media had also blamed me for blasphemy. The media did not stand firmly with me. Congress and Muslim League were also protesting against me along with PFI. There was neither government, nor college nor society with me.
Joseph says that my first motive was to tell the world what really happened to me. How did that one attack destroy my life? My family broke up. The second motive was to show how cruel Islamic organizations treat any innocent in the name of blasphemy. They do not accept our law. He still follows his law.
This year's Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award put a light ointment on Joseph's thousands of wounds. While the book got the award, on the other hand Joseph's purpose was also fulfilled. Thousands of his wounds, the cruelty in that question and answer were discussed in the world. The story of Joseph's life was shattered 10 years ago, what happened to him after the attack, that story reached the people.
PFI said- Our members are not involved in the attack, in
this case PFI says that it has no connection with the attack. Anees Ahmed, the general secretary of the organization, told us that in 2010 the Kerala High Court had ruled that the PFI was not involved in the attack and conspiracy. Got a clean chit from the court, but not from the media. The State Unit of PFI had spoken of cooperating in the investigation from day one. We had given this trust to the government and the police.
The 13 people whom the NIA has named as accused were all caught under the Arms Act. The entry of NIA did not happen directly in Joseph case. He started investigation regarding the Arms Act. It is true that maybe 2 people involved in Joseph case were associated with PFI at some point of time. He was not a member of the organization at the time of the attack.
PFI formed in 2007 is now spread in more than
20 states PFI formed in 2007 is now working in 20 states. It has an organized network. Its strong base is in South India itself. Recently, when there was a hijab controversy in Karnataka, PFI used it to strengthen its roots. PFI has also been accused of promoting jihad.
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