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Centre seeks listing of Isro spy case on Kerala poll eve, SC sees no urgency
The top court constituted a committee headed by retired SC judge DK Jain and sought a report on proposed action to be taken against the delinquent official of state police and IB. This committee submitted its report to the SC in a sealed cover recently
The Supreme Court on Monday turned down the Centre’s plea for taking up on Tuesday a report by a committee headed by a retired apex court judge which probed the conspiracy behind framing former Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) scientist Nambi Narayanan in an alleged espionage case in 2014.
The Supreme Court had in September 2018 directed the state government to award ₹50 lakh as compensation to Narayanan for his wrongful incarceration, malicious prosecution and humiliation suffered by him for being dragged in a false case by Kerala Police and state Intelligence bureau officials. The top court constituted a committee headed by retired SC judge DK Jain and sought a report on proposed action to be taken against the delinquent official of state police and IB. This committee submitted its report to the SC in a sealed cover recently.
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Seeking urgent listing of the matter, the Centre, led by solictor general Tushar Mehta, mentioned the case for urgent listing on Tuesday before a three-judge bench headed by CJI SA Bobde. Mehta said the case involves a serious issue as the 79-year old scientist, who is a former Padma Bhushan awardee, was humiliated and tortured in a false case over alleged leak of secret classified information to enemy countries. The CBI, which probed the case, found the allegation false and a trial court acquitted Narayanan of serious charge under Official Secrets Act in 1998.
The SC bench said, “We understand the importance of the case but there is no urgency.” The court directed the matter to be listed next week.
The urgent mentioning by Centre has evoked some anxiety as Kerala goes to polls on Tuesday. The case against Narayanan was filed by the Congress government in the early 1990s. In its probe, the CBI found that a false case was concocted by the state police and named three officials of Kerala Police -- former DGP Siby Mathews, and retired superintendents of police KK Joshua and S Vijayan. In addition, the court also found fault with then IB deputy director RB Shreekumar.
After his acquittal, Narayanan had approached Kerala high court for compensation. The same was denied following which he approached the apex court. The Justice Jain Committee also comprised a representative each of Centre and Kerala government. The contents of the report are not known as the same were filed in a sealed cover.
