Church toughens stand against sacked professor

 
 The circular issued by head of the Kothamangalam diocese of the Syro Malabar Catholic Church, which runs the college, said that the decision to sack Joseph came after a detailed
inquiry.

Bishop George Punakottil said in the circular that it had come to light that Joseph had included the controversial question even after being warned against it. The circular was issued in the context of the opposition to the extreme action of the management from a section of the church itself.

With this, Joseph is certain to approach the courts for justice, an option the management itself had suggested at the outset to the beleaguered lecturer whose right palm was chopped off by irate Muslim fundamentalists on July 4.

Meanwhile, Education Minister M A Baby reiterated his view that the action of the Thodupuzha Newman College management was extreme and similar to handing out death sentence to someone found guilty of a petty crime.

“The Mahatma Gandhi University syndicate decision (terming Joseph’s dismissal against norms) is right because the management did not take sanction from the university ahead of dismissing Joseph. We will give them (the college management) some more time to have a re-look into their arbitrary act,” said Baby.

The government expected the management to reinstate the professor and was waiting for the next step from the college.