Supreme Court to restore ISRO scientist’s lost reputation

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday held out the hope to Nambi Narayanan, the once-disgraced scientist of the Indian Space Research Organisation, of restoring his lost reputation.

The court said also that it would ensure him a monetary compensation, which the Kerala government will have to pay initially and then be recovered from the state police officials who implicated him in an espionage case.

The court has held in many judgements that reputation was part of a person’s right to live with dignity and cannot be taken away. But this will be the first time when it will erase all adverse records against a person, who was once accused of espionage, to restore his reputation.


The compensation to make up for his pain and anguish could be around .`75 lakh, though a three-judge bench hearing the matter said “money doesn’t really solve your problem”.

“His reputation will stand restored,” the bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said. Nambi Narayanan, who has been fighting to restore his reputation and dignity since 1998 when he was acquitted of the charges by the top court, was present in court on Wednesday.

The scientist was arrested in 1994 by the Kerala Police under the Official Secrets Act. He was part of ISRO’s cryogenics division and was accused of selling sensitive technology to enemy countries, a charge that the CBI later found false. He was acquitted of the charges only in 1998, at the instance of the top court. He then filed for action against the erring officials.