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Justice yet to deliver ISRO verdict

In case his plea was dismissed, he could go in appeal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior space scientist Nambi Narayanan and his lawyer C. Unnikrishnan are in a quandary as Justice K. Ramakrishna Pillai of the High Court, who had completed the hearing and reserved judgment on a plaint in the ISRO espionage case on April 8, has not so far delivered the final verdict. The Supreme Court in a judgmet in 2001 had ruled that under no circumstances should a judgment be reserved for more than two months.

A top lawyer practising in the High Court said that the delay in the judgment was denial of justice to Mr Nambi Narayanan. The state government had ordered closure of a long- pending file relating to a CBI recommendation for action against three police officials for ‘unprofessional’ conduct of the investigation into the ISRO espionage case. This resulted in Mr Nambi Narayanan challenging Mr Siby Mathews, currently the Chief Information Commissioner of the state. He was the deputy inspector-general (Crime) heading the special investigation team that first investigated the case.

His team had come out with the espionage theory in the case, which had begun with the arrest of a Maldivian woman on a charge of overstaying in India. The second official cleared by the government was Mr S. Vijayan, who was the then circle inspector, special branch, and the third was Mr K.K. Joshua, the then deputy superintendent of police in the SIT.

Sources close to the space scientist told DC that in case his plea was dismissed, he could go in appeal. Legal experts said that though this was not the first time the verdict in a case was being reserved, the inordinate delay was inexplicable.

( Source : dc )
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