Nambi Narayanan was a rising star in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) when he tripped into the yawning black hole of infamy.
It was November 1994. Mr. Narayanan headed the promising cryogenic division of the space organisation. Then, seemingly out of the blue, the Kerala police arrested him on the charge of espionage.
He endured harsh interrogation and humiliating incarceration in custody. Unflattering media coverage added insult to injury. Then in 1996, Mr. Narayanan got a reprieve when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) slammed the Kerala police for foisting a false case on him.
However, it took the scientist 24 more years of uphill legal struggle to wash off the stigma for good. With great fortitude, he clambered back from the dark chasm of despair and infamy he had found himself engulfed in.
Perhaps, what fired him up most for the fight was his unwavering belief in his innocence. Mr. Narayanan would later tell a biographer that he had told his interrogators that they were wrong.
He refused to kowtow to their theories of international conspiracies and involvement of more top scientists. He stood his ground though they made him stand for hours at a stretch and refused to let him sleep or quench his thirst.
Mr. Narayanan’s long-awaited day of redemption came on Friday when the Supreme Court slapped a fine of ₹50 lakh on the officers who unjustly accused the scientist of spying and treason, and ruined him in the process.
As the news broke, mediapersons mobbed Mr. Narayanan at his modest house in the capital. His son Shankar fielded scores of congratulatory calls from across the country. People from all walks of society trickled into Mr. Narayanan’s home.
It appeared that civil society had finally arrived in strength to pay moral recompense to a citizen the establishment had wronged for long.
