Supreme Court awards Rs 50 lakh compensation to Isro expert

New Delhi: Twentyfour years later, the Supreme Court said  on Friday that former Isro scientist Nambi Narayanan was “arrested unnecessarily, harassed and subjected to mental cruelty” in a 1994 spy case. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra awarded Dr Narayanan Rs 50 lakh compensation.

Observing that the reputation of former ISRO scientist S. Nambi Narayanan, has been tarnished by Kerala police, which arrested him in an alleged 1994 espionage case, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered the state to pay in eight weeks a compensation of '50 lakh to him for “malicious prosecution”.

Giving this relief to Mr. Narayanan, a three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud also set up a committee headed by former Supreme Court judge D.K. Jain to determine the appropriate disciplinary action that could be recommended against the then investigating officers — S. Vijayan, the then inspector, special branch, Thiruvananthapuram city, K.K. Joshwa, the then dy. SP, CB CID, Thiruvananthapuram, S. Siby Methews, the then DIG (crimes) of the special investigation team who investigated the so-called ISRO Espionage case.

The bench allowing the plea of Mr Narayanan further clarified that the amount of Rs 50 lakh compensation would be in addition to the Rs 1 crore defamation suit he had filed in a Kerala civil court which is still pending. It is for the scientist to decide whether he wants to pursue the civil suit or not, the court said. The bench passed the historic verdict on an appeal filed by Mr Narayanan challenging a 2015 judgment of Kerala high court refusing to order disciplinary action against the erring police officers for falsely implicating him and others in the case. The CBI, which had earlier taken up the espionage case, had also stated in a report that no case was made out against Mr Narayanan and others.