A scientist at ISRO, Narayanan was arrested on November 30, 1994, on allegations of espionage. He was later exonerated by the Supreme Court.
All very fine, the Court has done its duty and justice has been done. No all is not fine, justice is just one aspect of this entire case which will be completely done only when the culprits, all those who falsely charged the scientist, whether retired or dead are tried out and punished. They gave to be tried for their crime against both the individual Scientist and also against the Nation.
What is most worrisome is that does Govt of India have no system to defend our Country from such invisible attacks and threats ? It seems that no one understands that enemy, even Competitors, and friendly countries too may “ attack “ us to destroy / obstruct or even delay and misdirect our progress in various fields.
That we have to be extra careful in the field of Nuclear research, Space research, DRDO research, certain top industrial technology research and agricultural research, is not Quantum Physics but pure common sense. Our opponents of all varieties will resort to all tactics ……destroy our facilities by a direct military raid, destroy it by physical sabotage, destroy it by killing our scientists, destroy it by Labour Union activities, destroy it by legal attacks in the form of environmental issues / Human rights issues / land issues or issues on grant of tenders etc.
The Concerned Ministries at the Centre including PMO, Space Commission all knew the importance of the work being done by Nambi Narayanan. So the moment, he was arrested by just the State Police, the PMO should have silently alerted every other agency concerned. ISRO should have immediately carried out a silent internal probe to see if any thing was compromised and given its report. Similarly RAW and IB and Counter Intelligence of IB should have gone into action.
If nothing else, at least the Custody of the Scientist should have been taken by the Central Agencies and physically protected ( as a much valued resource, even if suspect). Interrogation if any should have been done jointly without causing any physical harm to such valued asset.
However every one acted as HOLIER THAN THE POPE and just assumed that Nambi z have committed the crime. Probably some were compromised by external Spy agency/ agencies but what about the rest?
Narayanan had approached the apex court against a Kerala High Court’s judgement, stating that no action was required against officers associated with the investigation — former DGP Siby Mathews and former SPs K K Joshua and S Vijayan. All the officers have retired. Narayanan sought action against police officers who probed the espionage case against him.
The Supreme Court Friday awarded Rs 50 lakh compensation to former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, saying he was “unnecessarily arrested and harassed” by the Kerala Police. The top court has set up a committee under Justice DK Jain to look into Narayanan’s complaint against police officers who framed him. The Centre and state will nominate a member each to the committee. More details are awaited.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud reserved its order in July after the CBI stated that it was ready for a court-monitored probe.
