Indian court offers final confirmation to innocent space scientist arrested and tortured | Science

Sankaralingam Nambi Narayanan, a former Indian space scientist who was arrested and tortured in 1994 following allegations of the sale of space program secrets in Pakistan, finally saw his name canceled and his treatment condemned by the highest court Indian.

On 14 September, the Supreme Court of India announced its finding that the original case against Narayanan had been concocted and awarded him compensation of Rs 5 million (approximately $ 70,000). The entire prosecution by the Kerala state police was malicious and caused tremendous harassment and immeasurable anxiety to Narayanan, the court said. He also ordered the creation of a committee headed by a former Supreme Court judge charged with taking action against police officers whose actions led to the espionage clash.

Narayanan and other defendants in the episode were found innocent by a local court in 1996, but a series of related litigation ensued over the next two decades. Narayanan says that his life has never been the same. "The lives of all the accused were broken and we all suffered in silence," he says.

Narayanan considers that the new court ruled in last resort. "Although this judgment arrived so late in the day, I am really very happy and grateful. All I said was certified and recognized by the Supreme Court that, yes, I am innocent! Narayanan said. "I had to borrow money to fight the cases [but] I did not want to die being called a spy and I wanted to prove my innocence without a doubt.

In addition to Narayanan, Dr. D. Sasikumaran, another scientist from the Indian Institute of Space Research (ISRO) and four other people, including two Maldivian women who allegedly bought the secrets of the space program, were arrested in November 1994 in Pakistan. Narayanan remained in detention for nearly 50 days and, according to a 1996 investigation by the Central Investigation Bureau of India, he was tortured several times by the State Police and the Intelligence Bureau. like the others. The IWC report also concluded that the charges were false. All the defendants, who had challenged the case as completely fabricated, were found innocent by a local court in 1996.

In 2001, the National Human Rights Commission of India ordered Narayanan to receive provisional aid of one million rupees. "But I only had it after 11 years, in 2012, after moving the high court twice," says Narayanan Science.

The case has shaken the Indian space agency. "The entire ISRO has been demoralized," says Narayanan, who has been a pioneer in liquid propulsion technology and a key part of India's major effort to send heavy rockets into space.

In the 1990s, India negotiated with the Soviet Union and the United States access to critical cryogenics technology, which uses low temperatures to store fuel in liquid form; India has agreed to buy technology from the Soviet Union. But with the break-up of the Soviet Union, the United States is pressuring the Russians to deny their agreement with India, and Boris Yeltsin has capitulated. India has lost access to the necessary cryogenics.

Narayanan strongly suspects that an international conspiracy – in which rogue elements of Indian intelligence agencies played – led the espionage case against him and the others, which derailed ISRO's space plans. "The Indian cryogenics program has been delayed for about 15 years," he says.

Why would the United States or anyone want to block the Indian space program at this time? India hoped to propose launching satellites at a fraction of the price that NASA or Europeans were charging – a market currently estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars. India is now a major player in this market, but it is still struggling to launch heavy satellites because, in recent years, it has only mastered the technology of cryogenic fuels for its rocket engines.