M A I N   N E W S

Bhopal Verdict
It’s travesty of justice: Survivors
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

Where is Warren Anderson? Warren Anderson (89), the then chairman of Union Carbide Corporation of USA, appears to have gone scot free as he is still an absconder and did not subject himself to trial. Justice has eluded the people of Bhopal for 26 years. In 1987, a Bhopal District Court charged Union Carbide officials, including Anderson, with culpable homicide, grievous assault and other serious offences. In 1992, a warrant was issued for Anderson’s arrest. All efforts to extradite Warren Anderson have proved futile. Reports suggest that Anderson lives in the USA. National Green Tribunal Bill The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Bill, also called the Green Bill, envisaging quick and effective disposal of environment related issues, was cleared by Parliament in the last session. Once provisions of the Bill are operationalised, individuals and organisations can hope for fast-track justice and compensation for loss of life and property following environmental accidents. The tribunal will be headquartered at Bhopal.

New Delhi, June 7
A quarter of a century after the world’s worst industrial disaster that killed and maimed thousands in Bhopal, relatives of victims and survivors of the tragedy are flabbergasted, outraged, and not without a reason. Is it truly a fair verdict, they are questioning, saying the disaster has been treated as a traffic accident.

Terming today’s verdict and sentence against seven officials of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), and the company an utter disappointment, they said they were resolved to challenge it at a higher legal fora. “We feel outraged and betrayed. This is not justice. This is a travesty of justice,” said Hazra Bee of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal. “The paltry sentencing is a slap in the face of suffering Bhopal victims,” she said.

Survivors have also condemned the government’s “criminal negligence” in the prosecution of those accused of responsibility for the world’s worst corporate 
massacre.

Rachna Dhingra from the Bhopal Group for Information and Action said as in charge of the Central Bureau of Investigation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must accept blame for the prosecuting agency’s incompetence and mishandling of the case.

UCIL’s Indian officials were awarded a two-year prison sentence and a fine of Rs 1,01,750 today, while Union Carbide India Limited (now Eveready Industries India Limited) was fined Rs 5,00,000. All accused are out on bail of Rs 25,000.

“Today’s verdict was in the case against only the nine Indian accused (eight individuals and the UCIL), one of whom died in the course of the trial. The foreign accused - Union Carbide Corporation, Warren Anderson and Union Carbide Eastern — are absconding and the CBI has failed to take action to bring them to India to face trial,” Dhingra said.

“There is documentary evidence that Union Carbide, the USA and Anderson knew that the Bhopal plant design was based on “untested technology”, they were in full control over operations and safety of the factory and it is they who directed reckless cost - cutting. Justice cannot be done in Bhopal till these principal accused are brought to trial,” said Rashida Bee, who lost six members of her family in the disaster.

Organisations allege “Justice AM Ahmadi converted the Bhopal disaster to the equivalent of a traffic accident. Without assessing the full evidence, he reduced the prison term for the crimes of Bhopal from 10 years to two years and the CBI made not a single effort to get this legally unsound order revised” said Syed M Irfan, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha.

Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, one of the three organisations assisting the prosecution, said glaring omissions in the CBI’s presentation of evidence against the Indian accused amounted to dereliction of prosecution’s duty. “The CBI failed to produce evidence regarding the role of Keshub Mahindra and other accused in deliberate acts undermining operational safety such as design modification, rewriting of operation manuals and decommissioning the crucial refrigeration unit,” he said.

He said that CBI’s “go soft” approach against corporate crime is also evident in its inaction against Dow Chemical, current owner of Union Carbide, USA.

The organisations said the Prime Minister must accept responsibility for the failure of the CBI in its role as the prosecuting agency. They called for the creation of a special prosecution cell for effective and timely action on extradition of foreign accused and prosecution of Dow Chemical.