Jubilant scenes were witnessed outside the NIA court after the judge passed the verdict against the 13 accused in the case of attacking and chopping off the right palm of former college teacher T.J. Joseph.

It was obvious that while all the accused had been served with different prison terms and fine, they were more than happy with the verdict and they shared the joy by hugging each other and their counsel.

After all, reams were written about severe punishment awaiting many of them, including life terms, which was not the case to be.

The delight was not misplaced as most of them need not have to spend much time behind the bar after having already spent considerable period in the jail since their arrest.

For instance, M.M. Riyaz who was granted two years of rigorous imprisonment would be out this month. He was arrested in May 2013 and is set to complete two years in jail this month itself.

Discounting the holidays, he might not have to remain in jail for more than 10 days. Similarly, Abdul Latheef, another accused slapped with two years’ imprisonment, is left with just three months of his sentence in jail.

In fact, the first five accused who were among the assailant group, which attacked the professor, had been left with just about three years of their sentence of eight years of rigorous imprisonment.

They had been in judicial custody since August-September 2010 and had completed nearly five years in jail.