Professor T. J. Joseph, his mother and sister (a Catholic Nun) were returning home from Sunday Mass when their car was stopped by a van carrying several men who carried out a savage and bloody attack on the 53 year old educator. Asia News reports.

Joseph's sister, Mary Stella, says that "the assailants destroyed the window of our car and pulled out my brother to execute him. My poor mother, who was in the car with us, witnessed the crime."

Due to a series of protests by Islamic groups, he was suspended from school. Later, Joseph publicly apologized for his "unintentional error." Joseph's mother said that in recent months her son continued to receive death threats.

"Christian schools are often targeted on the headscarf issue or another issue and unfortunately many schools succumb under pressure. The design of these militants is to provoke peaceful Christian communities and provoke a civil war. The rapid growth of the Muslim population and their influence in elections is increasing safety concerns for Christians throughout this country."

Professor Joseph underwent two lengthy micro-vascular surgeries at the Specialists Hospital, Kochi, and the severed palm was ‘reconstructed and re-grafted.' Hospital sources said he was conscious and that his condition was stable. He is recovering in the intensive-care unit.