Happy as citizen, not victim; conspirators still at large: T J Joseph on Savad's arrest

Idukki: The victim in the palm chopping case T J Joseph on Wednesday said that NIA's arrest of Savad Meerankutty in Kannur pleased him as a citizen but not as a victim. The former professor from Newman College, Thodupuzha added that the arrest did not affect the conspirators at large.

“I am glad that the police and the law enforcement system arrested the man who inflicted the most grievous injuries on me. However, as a victim I have nothing to say about this. People like Savad are only foot soldiers. Most of the master brains behind the palm chopping are still at large,” Joseph said.

He noted that there was no guarantee that such ghastly acts of terror would cease as long as the real conspirators were not taken to task.

Last year in July when the NIA trial had found six more accused guilty in the case and awarded life imprisonment, the professor had said that he would not be be pursuing the case further. He said that he envisaged a world devoid of blind faith and religious extremism and that he would work towards creating a society that placed humanity above religion.

Regarding the wider conspiracy in the palm copping case, he had then said that the culprits were within the realm of religion and that the government and political parties had not shown the willpower to bring them to the book fearing electoral backlash. “However, I am done with it. My intention is to instill a scientific temper in people and create a modern society that will do away with the barbaric religious belief that instigates some people to chop off a palm or indulge in similar acts of violence,” Joseph had said.