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The Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front government, which sought to keep the Indian Space Research Organisation espionage case alive even after the Central Bureau of Investigation found it to be false, has given a parting slap to an accused in the case.
The government, which will be relinquish office on Thursday, has made senior ISRO scientist S Nambinarayanan to run another legal battle for claiming Rs 1 million that the National Human Rights Commission had ordered as interim relief to him for the torture he underwent by police officials.
The government challenged the March 14 NHRC order through a writ petition in the Kerala High Court, claiming that it was illegal.
The ground cited in its writ petition was the failure by the commission to provide an opportunity to police personnel to explain their position regarding allegations Nambinarayanan had made against them. The petition alleged that the impugned order was ''vitiated by the absence of jurisdiction''.
The High Court has posted the petition for hearing on May 22.
Nambinarayanan told rediff.com that his fight was mainly against the government. "The government was adequately represented by the chief secretary in the commission. I don't know whether there was a need for the commission to hear individual officers," he added.
"All courts have exonerated us and indicted the government in strong terms. The LDF government seems to nurse some grudge against me," Nambinarayanan said.
He pointed out that he had filed the complaint after the Supreme Court quashed the Kerala government notification seeking a Reinvestigation despite discharge of the accused by the Ernakulam chief judicial magistrate.
The Supreme Court, while quashing the government notification, had observed that the state government action was inconsistent with the role of a responsible government bound by the rule of law.
The case against Nambinarayanan was that he, along with a fellow scientist, had leaked out drawings relating to the Viking and cryogenic engines to other countries through Maldivians -- Mariam Rasheeda and Fousiya Hassan.
Nambinarayanan and another ISRO scientist D Sasikumar were detained following the arrest of Rasheeda by the Kerala police, in a case of overstay in the country in November 1994.
The ISRO scientist, who had got Rs.100,000 from the government as costs ordered by the Supreme Court, filed a suit in a civil court claiming damages worth Rs10 million on counts like arrest and detention, physical and mental torture, loss of reputation and re-registration of a case by the Kerala government.
Nambinarayanan said that he has been fighting so many legal battles for making those who tortured him and other innocents feel guilty.
"The media and the people around me have acknowledged my innocence and have accepted me, but the officers who made my life hell are not apologetic. I will continue my fight until they say sorry," he added.
"It is not the money that matters. No amount of money can compensate the losses I have suffered. Nobody can give back what I have lost in life," he added.
EARLIER REPORT ISRO scientist yet to get compensation
RELATED INTERVIEW 'No amount of money can compensate for what I have lost in my life'
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