June 5th, 2017 was a landmark day for India. The first flight of cryogenic engine CE-20 put India in the elite list of countries which had cryogenic engine technology at its disposal. The other countries in this short list include United States of America, Russia, France, China and Japan. It was a massive achievement for India to join this league which was dominated by five superpowers until 2017.
It would be surprising for many Indians to learn that India could have gotten its hands on this technology a lot earlier; 17 years earlier to be precise. A high scale drama erupted in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1994, a drama which thwarted India’s advancement in space research. S Nambi Narayanan was a leading Indian scientist in the liquid fuel technology research in ISRO. Nambi Narayanan was falsely charged with leaking vital defence secrets to two alleged Maldivian intelligence officers. D Sasikumaran was also falsely charged along with Nambi Narayanan for leaking highly confidential flight test data to Maldivian intelligence officers Mariam Rasheeda and Fauzia Hassan. The questioning and inhuman torture of Nambi Narayanan took place in jail for 50 days. The charges against Nambi Narayanan were dismissed as false by the CBI in May 1996 and subsequently by the Supreme Court of India in April 1998.
The National Human Rights Commission in 1999 had passed strictures against the government of Kerala for damaging the careers of both the scientists who had been assigned desk jobs after the dismissal of charges against them. Kerala state government was ordered to pay a compensation of 1 crore to Nambi Narayanan who retired in 2001. Kerala High Court acting on an appeal from the NHRC brought down the compensation amount to 10 lakhs in September 2012. According to The Hindu, the Oommen Chandy led Kerala government in 2011 decided to drop all charges against the accused officers. The CBI had recommended actions against the ‘unprofessional conduct’ of three officers: the then DIG (Crime), Siby Mathews, former Circle Inspector (Special branch), S. Vijayan, and former Superintendent of Police, K.K. Joshua. The CBI had also cleared all charges levied against Nambi Narayanan as false.
The case against Nambi Narayanan was closed by the CBI as there was no substantial proof which could link Nambi Narayanan with any charge of espionage. The case and investigation against the three accused officers had been dropped by the Oomen Chandy government. Nambi Narayanan’s career and personal life were destroyed by this charge against him, as the allegations and the subsequent investigations made it impossible for Nambi Narayanan to lead a normal life. Nambi Narayanan is yet to receive any compensation from the Kerala government even after being directed by NHRC multiple times, while the officers involved in wrongly framing Nambi Narayanan enjoyed successful careers as the Kerala government did nothing to punish them.
Nambi Narayanan had filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court in 2015 asking for re-investigating the role of the then SIT officers who had framed Nambi Narayanan. The Supreme Court Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud gave out a statement in the SLP filed by Nambian Narayanan on Wednesday the 9th of May, 2018. The remark by the Supreme Court states that ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan had faced a dent in his reputation due to the espionage case and the Kerala government cannot evade responsibility. The SC bench is soon going to decide whether the compensations owed to Nambi Narayanan should be paid by the officers involved in the probe or by the Kerala state government.
The SC bench said, “We can direct that his reputation be restored and for the loss of reputation we can give the compensation. There is direct judgment to this effect and direct recovery from those officers who were involved in the investigation of the case”.
Nambi Narayanan is still waiting for justice to be served. Compensation might be given to him today but can anyone compensate for the loss of his productive years and the disrespect faced by Nambi Narayanan all through these years. The Kerala government and its officers will be held accountable in the SC judgment which is due to be passed soon. We hope the guilty are finally punished and that justice prevails for the former ISRO scientist.