Two suspected activists of a radical Muslim outfit, the Popular Front of India, were arrested on Monday for attacking and chopping off the right hand of a professor in Kerala.
T.J. Joseph (52), a Malayalam lecturer at a church-run college, was waylaid and attacked on Sunday at Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district, about 220 km north of the state capital.
After hurling countrymade bombs, the assailants chopped off his right hand and inflicted serious wounds on his legs.
Joseph, a lecturer at Newman College in Idukki district, was arrested after he allegedly prepared a question paper hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims in April.
After he was released on bail, Joseph had been receiving threats and had approached the police for protection. But the police paid no heed to his requests.
Joseph was admitted to the Super Specialty Hospital in Ernakulam where doctors sutured back his hand after a 15-hour surgery. It will take more than a week to know if the surgery was successful.
Denouncing the barbaric attack, state Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the government would not allow such “Taliban-like” attacks.