Kochi: A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has rejected the pleas of two accused for deferring the second phase of trial in the palm-chopping case scheduled before the Ernakulam National Investigation Agency Special Court.

The right palm of  Shri TJ Joseph, then a teacher at Newman College, Thodupuzha, was chopped off by assailants on July 4, 2010 when he was returning home from church with his family. He was attacked for allegedly preparing a question paper for the second-semester BCom examination which contained a reference to Prophet Mohammed.

NIA submitted "preparations had been made by the court to proceed with the trial, observing the pandemic protocol. In fact, only two of the accused were now in custody and the others were on bail who could appear through videoconferencing."

Several members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) were arrested in the case later. Of the 51 accused in the case, 45 were charge-sheeted by the National Investigation Agency. As many as 31 persons were put on trial and 13 were convicted in 2015.

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