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Case Name - S. Nambi Narayan v. Siby Mathew and Others
Citation – Civil Appeal No. 6637-6638 of 2018, 14 September 2018
Parties Involved –
Petitioner - S. Nambi Narayanan
Respondent - Siby Mathews & Others (investigation team)
Relevant Acts and Sections – Article 21 of the Indian Constitution
Facts of the case
S. Nambi Narayan was an Indian scientist and aerospace engineer. He is a Padma Bhushan awardee. Prof Nambi Narayan was a respected senior scientist in the cryogenics division at the Indian Space Research Organisation. In 1994 November he was charged with espionage. He was arrested by police officials for leaking vital information relating to the rocket to Pakistan even though they did not find any evidence in his house.
After two years in 1996, all the charges were dropped by the CBI. In this case, it was also alleged by the petitioner, Nambi Narayan that he was subjected to torture in prison.
Arguments of the Petitioner
The petitioner’s main contention was that he was wrongfully arrested in the case without any evidence. The CBI officials have not conducted their investigation in a proper manner.
He was subjected to mental torture because of being labelled a ‘spy’ and ‘traitor’.
He has suffered the loss of reputation for which he must be compensated and the authorities who were responsible for such acts must face legal consequences.
Arguments of the Respondent
The respondent held that Prof, Nambi Narayan has not suffered any torture during his time in prison.
They held that the circumstances of the case were such that Prof. Nambi Narayan appeared to be at fault. Hence it was not a false arrest.
Important Observations by the court:
The court said that “the police have the power to arrest a person even without obtaining a warrant of arrest from a court. The amplitude of this power casts an obligation on the police … [and it] must bear in mind, as held by this Court that if a person is arrested for a crime, his constitutional and fundamental rights must not be violated.”
“The lackadaisical attitude of the State police to arrest anyone and put him in police custody has made the appellant suffer the ignominy. The dignity of a person gets shocked when psycho-pathological treatment is meted out to him.”
The Court held that “the right to a reputation is an integral part of the right to life, and is protected by the Constitution of India. An important part of a person's life is his reputation and self-esteem, both of which were severely disrupted in this case by the psychological, physical, and emotional abuse of a false case that provided Mr Nambi without satisfactory evidence. ”
The court also cited the D.K Basu case where ‘custodial torture’ was defined. It said that
“Custodial torture is a naked violation of human dignity and degradation which destroys, to a very large extent, the individual personality. It is a calculated assault on human dignity and whenever human dignity is wounded, civilization takes a step backward – flag of humanity must on each such occasion fly half-mast”
It also said that private reputation is an important part of an individual’s life and it must be protected.
Judgment of the Case
The Hon'ble Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra awarded damages amounting to Rs. 50 Lakhs. It also specified a time limit of 8 weeks to pay the amount to Prof Nambi Narayan. As a result, Kerala High decided to pay double the amount. A probe committee was also formed by the Supreme Court to find out the role of the Kerala Govt in the false arrest.
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References
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