University Orders College to Take Back Ousted Professor in India

(September 11, 2010) Mahatma Gandhi University has criticized the Church-run Newman College in Kerala for ‘illegally’ dismissing a lecturer, two months after Muslim extremists cut off his hand. The syndicate of the University has called on the management of Church-run Newman College to revoke the dismissal of lecturer TJ Joseph whose right hand was chopped off by alleged Muslim fanatics over a purported insult of Muhammad. After the syndicate’s meeting, Vice Chancellor Rajan Gurukkal said the college management had not followed norms while taking action against Joseph. The university, he said, would ask the college to take him back, The Times of India reports. The management of Newman College, Thodupuzha, had suspended Joseph soon after a controversy over a question paper set by him for an internal exam. Despite the university revoking Joseph’s suspension, the college gave him the dismissal orders on September 1 stating it was necessary to protect secular credentials of the institution. Joseph, meanwhile, wrote a letter to the college management pleading he be taken back on humanitarian grounds. He argued his salary was the only source of income for his family. The College is run by Kothamangalam diocese of Syro Malabar Church. The professor’s sister Maria Stella, a Catholic nun in Kerala, said that the university’s decision was a victory for his brother’s family.