Always believed in the judiciary: Former ISRO scientist

A division bench of the Kerala High Court Friday upheld the order of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) ordering compensation of Rs.1 million to former senior scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) S. Nambi Narayanan, one of the main accused in the 1994 ISRO spy case who was later absolved of all charges.

While it asked for the money to be paid in three weeks time, the court overruled the NHRC directive to take action against those who had charged two ISRO scientists in the case.

"I always believed in the judiciary and this shows that the system functions. The apex court had cleared me in the case long back (1997) and even though it took 11 years for this to come, I am happy. This is just the start," said Nambi Narayanan while reacting to the verdict.

The ISRO spy case surfaced in October 1994 when two Maldivian residents, Fousia and Mariam Rasheeda, alongwith two senior ISRO scientists and a businessman were accused of espionage. The next month, they were arrested.

Despite the case attracting a lot of media attention, the Supreme Court absolved all the accused and let them free in December, 1997.

Later, Nambi Narayanan and filed a compensation case.
The case also had other repercussions and saw the downfall of the then Kerala Chief Minister K. Karunakaran in 1995.