wenty-seven years after the world’s worst industrial tragedy, one which officially took a toll of over 15 thousand people, the aftershocks are still not over. While activists are opposing Dow Chemical’s sponsorship of the ‘Greenest ever Olympic Games’ in London next year, the company has refused to subject itself to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India; and it is becoming increasingly doubtful if international law will ever be able to force the multinational to accept any liability for what happened in Bhopal in December, 1984. That does not mean Dow will get away easily. Activists all over the world have spared no effort, and lost no opportunity, to highlight Dow’s involvement and to embarrass the corporation. The ‘Yes Men’ hoax of 2004 on BBC was one such attempt.
Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy, pulled off a staggering hoax on the BBC. Posing as Dow representatives, they went on live television for six minutes and accepted full responsibility for the Bhopal tragedy. Before BBC discovered the hoax, Dow stocks took a nose dive, losing $12 million in half an hour. As the Games come nearer, more bizarre and possibly audacious attempts can be expected to force Dow Chemical on the backfoot.
But while the focus is still on Dow, the role of the Indian Government can scarcely be ignored. Simple arithmetic shows that the GoI erred in arriving at a court-monitored settlement in 1989 with Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) on the basis of flawed data. While the government based the settlement on the figure of 3,000 deaths, the court settled claims for 15,274 deaths, leading to substantial reduction in the amount of compensation received by the families, who were mostly poor and had lost their bread winners.
What is more, the Supreme Court of India, while settling the claim, had clearly stated that the "shortfall, if any" would be met by the Government of India. Now that the GoI is asking for an additional Rs 7,771 crore by way of compensation and resettlement, the question uppermost is how long the Government would drag the case and wait for a court verdict. A simpler option, and a just one perhaps, would be for the Government to shell out the money and recover it later, if possible, through litigation.
There are, on this day, at least 6 cases pending in various courts of the country and one in the US court. The oldest one, pending in the Supreme Court of India since 1998, is a medical petition by Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan. It raises issues like the indifferent attitude of the doctors and hospital managements towards the victims, lack of proper treatment and non availability of required medicine.
The second petition, filed on March 17, 2010, demands five times higher compensation. The third and the most important one is the curative petition filed by the government of India in civil matter of 1989 settlement for $ 470 million. It demands an additional sum of Rs. 5786 crore on compensation account, Rs 1670 crore for rehabilitation and Rs 315 crore more for the clearing of the chemical contamination left behind by the Union Carbide.
This petition is crucial for several reasons. The apex court, at the time of the 1989 settlement between UCC and the GOI, had made it amply clear that any shortfall in the compensation amount beyond $470 million, would be made good by the Government.
The Government first evolved a formula and paid lower compensation to the victims in a bid to avoid shelling out money. When the settlement was challenged by activist groups, the government changed its stance and supported the demand for higher compensation from UCC. This change of stance did not please the court.
The Supreme Court bench, comprising Justice Ranganath Misra, Justice M.N. Venkatachalliah, Justice K.N.Singh, Justice A.M.AHMADI and Justice N.D.OJHA observed on 3rd October 1991, ‘One word about the shifting stand of the Union of India. It entered into a Court assisted settlement but when the review applications came up for hearing, it supported the review petitioners without seeking the Court’s leave to withdraw from the settlement on permissible grounds or itself filing a review petition. To say the leas ,this conduct is indeed surprising.'
There undoubtedly have been a large number of fake claimants and many of them managed to receive the amounts too, thanks to large scale corruption in the claim courts deciding the cases. However, the consensus in Bhopal is that there was no manipulation with death claims. Indeed, the actual death figure is deemed to be even higher than 15,274 case accepted by the courts.
Looking back
The city of Bhopal, known as a city of lakes, has actually turned into a city of hospitals. According to a calculation, the city today has hospital beds far beyond the ideal per capita figure recommended by the World Health Organisation. It is ironic because few or none of the doctors over here have any clue to the treatment of victims, since the secret antidote for the leaked MIC gas was never revealed by the Union Carbide Corporation.
In 1989 Union Carbide was allowed to go scot free of all the Bhopal liabilities, including the criminal charges, by a mere payment of $470 million. When the sum was calculated for distribution among the claimants, nearly 95 percent of the claimants could receive only Rs. 25,000 each. However, thanks to the intervention of public spirited individuals and NGOs working for the victims, the criminal case was restored in 1991 but allowed the seemingly unjust civil settlement of $470 million.
The Government of the day is blamed for a series of strategic mistakes or deliberate mischief. First, it was the release of the UCC chairman Warren Anderson, arrested in Bhopal on December 7, 1984. The decision to release him is said to have been taken at the highest level in the government. Anderson never returned to face trial in India and the Government never made any serious effort to bring him back, even when the Bhopal court declared him an absconder from the law in 1992.
Then it was the dilution of charges against Carbide officials from section 304 of IPC
(Culpable homicide not amounting to murder and carrying a maximum punishment of 10 years imprisonment) to section 304A by the Supreme Court in 1996. Section 304 A is generally applied to motor accident cases and carries a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment.
Last year the Chief Judicial Magistrate sentenced several officials to imprisonment for just two years after holding them guilty of ‘killing’ 25,000 innocent people in 1984. Ironically again, survivors, who have been demanding their rightful compensation and justice, over the past 27 years have frequently been booked by the police under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, some carrying a jail term of 15 years.
There was a glimmer of hope in June 2010, when the entire nation stood up in support of the Bhopal victims after the Bhopal district court pronounced just two years imprisonment for the Union Carbide India Limited officials and promptly released them on bail.
The then Law Minister, M.Veerappa Moily, had to acknowledge the fact that the verdict was nothing but an example of ‘justice buried'. ‘This is one such case where justice is delayed and practically denied. I would like to say justice is buried', he said.
Back to square one
The curative petition was filed with a view to reopen the entire Bhopal case, which included a fresh look into the issue of infamous 1989 settlement with Union Carbide for $470 million and reframing of criminal charges against the UCC chairman Warren Anderson and the rest of the Indian officials. The apex court advised the CBI to take its case once again to the trial court. That is to say - back to square one.
With all these disillusionments and diminishing hope for justice, on the 27th anniversary of the tragedy this year, the survivors chose to play a little tough. The annual ritual of peaceful torch light processions, some sloganeering and burning of effigies of those responsible for the condition they are in today, was abandoned. Instead, they chose railway tracks over the streets to implement their pre-declared Rail Roko agitation to press their demands.
This resulted into violent clashes between the police and the demonstrators. Police fired in the air, lobbed tear gas shells and baton charged people as protesters pelted stones at the police and burnt a few vehicles.
It was after a gap of nearly 22 years that the police and the survivors had clashed. There were just two earlier instances; First, it was on June25,1985, when dozens of gas victims were injured in a police lathi charge while attempting to reach the state Mantralay and again on August 9, 1989, when a demonstration was being held at the R&D centre of Union Carbide.
Survivors’ organisations had demanded that; a) the Government of India seeks adequate compensation from the American multinational Union Carbide and its new owner The Dow Chemical Company in the curative petition that is currently pending before the Supreme Court of India; b)In order to seek adequate compensation from the American corporations the Government of India must revise the figures of deaths and extent of injuries caused by the disaster.
Another issue, which has been haunting the survivors of the Bhopal is that of the chemical giant Dow Chemicals. Bhopal survivors’ groups have been running a campaign ‘Dow shalt assume liabilities’ since 1999, when a merger between the Dow and Union Carbide Corporation took place. Dow has been refusing to accept any responsibility under the pretext that it was not responsible for whatever happened in Bhopal.
Toxic waste
The issue becomes all the more important since the toxic waste left behind are yet to be cleared. With Dow refusing to take any responsibility, the issue of cleaning the site becomes a serious issue, since no one in the country has the expertise to handle this highly sensitive and scary affair.
Toxic remains in the Carbide plant have seeped deep into the ground and have contaminated drinking water of the communities in the vicinity. By the time the groundwater contamination was detected, hundreds of people had developed several ailments.
It is causing havoc for children of the gas affected families in the area. The open areas, being used by the children as play ground, are severely contaminated by these very materials converting them into toxic play grounds. However children, even at the risk of their health, continue to play on these toxic grounds since they they don’t have any other place to play.
These children, obviously, have no clue about the London Olympics, which are being sponsored by Dow Chemicals on ‘green grounds’ leaving the ‘toxic grounds’ in Bhopal.
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