Govt responsible to compensate me; dismissal from job caused more pain than attack: TJ Joseph

Kottayam: The sentence to the convicts does not have any impact on me, said Prof TJ Joseph, survivor in the 2010 hand-chopping incident in Thodupuzha.

He was reacting to the second conviction in the case. The sentence was pronounced on Thursday. While three were sentenced to life, three others received a jail term of three years.

He said it was up to the legal expert to analyse whether it was sufficient or not.

"I was attacked by some primitive creed," Joseph said. "I am not interested in punishing or otherwise making anyone suffer for the same. I dream of a land where all men are good and live well," he told mediapersons.

Joseph said that the government has a responsibility to compensate him for the pain and suffering he has endured, and that he would accept the compensation even if it came from the accused.

"It was the people who fired me from my job who caused more pain than the attackers," Joseph said. "I hope that the government will take steps to ensure that this never happens again."

According to NIA, the accused, cadres of the banned PFI, conspired to kill Professor TJ Joseph over his alleged derogatory remarks about Prophet Mohammed in a question paper prepared for the Malayalam examination for B Com students at Newman College, Thodupuzha, Idukki district, Kerala. He was attacked on July 4, 2010.