The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear in April a petition filed by former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, discharged in the 1994 espionage case, for an order to initiate criminal action against three former top police officers for allegedly fabricating the case against him.
A three-judge Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra has scheduled the case for hearing in the second week of April after one of the respondent parties sought more time to file a counter to Mr. Narayanan's petition. The petition was filed in 2015. The court had issued notice to the respondents shortly thereafter in July 2015. The case has been pending since then.
The petition has arraigned former Kerala ADGP Siby Mathews, K.K. Joshwa and S. Vijayan, both of whom had retired in senior positions in the police. Mr. Narayanan had moved the court after a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court refused his plea.
In his petition, Mr. Narayanan, contended that the High Court had “failed to appreciate the real undercurrent that passed through the mind of the apex court, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the single judge of the High court in their verdict and on untenable reasons, quashed the order of the single judge.”
Challenging the legality of the High Court Division Bench order, Mr. Narayanan said it was “bad in law” and has sought interim stay contending that “the illegality in the judgment impugned, if allowed to perpetuate, would only encourage the unlawful action and mindset on the part of the Kerala police to harass innocent persons for extraneous considerations.”
The apex court in 1998 granted compensation of ₹1 lakh to Mr. Narayanan and others who were discharged in the case and directed the State government to pay the amount.
Later, Mr. Narayanan approached the NHRC claiming compensation against the State government for mental agony and torture suffered by him. The NHRC, after hearing both sides and taking into account the apex court judgment of April 29, 1998 awarded an interim compensation of ₹10 lakh on March 14, 2001.
