Updated on Monday, June 07, 2010, 16:05 IST
Zeenews Bureau
Bhopal: Two year jail term for some of the accused, a couple of lakh of rupees as fine is all that that has come the way of the thousands who were the unsuspecting innocent victims of the world’s worst industrial disaster, the Bhopal Gas tragedy.
A city court on Monday while holding all the eight Indian accused, including former Union Carbide chairman Keshub Mahindra, guilty of criminal negligence and sentenced seven of them – one accused died during the course of the 23 years long trial - to two years in jail. However, they were later granted bail for surety of Rs 25,000 each.
The accused have also been fined Rs 1 lakh each, while the US chemical giant Union Carbide has been fined only Rs 5 lakh, for the deadly leak of tonnes of toxic gas from their plant on that chilly December Dec 2-3 night of 1984.
Besides Mahindra, the other accused who have been found guilty are: Vijay Gokhle, the then managing director of UCIL, Kishore Kamdar, the then vice president, J N Mukund, the then works manager, S P Choudhary, the then production manager, K V Shetty, the then plant superintendent and S I Quershi, the then production assistant.
Another accused, R B Roy Choudhary, the then former assistant works manager Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL), Mumbai, died during the trial.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohan P Tiwari held them guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including under section 304 (A) (causing death by negligence), 336 (acts endangering life or personal safety of others) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others). Original charges of culpable homicide, which carries a potential 10-year sentence, were controversially downgraded by the Supreme Court in 1996.
During the trial, a total of 178 prosecution witnesses were examined and 3008 documents were produced while eight defence witnesses deposed in the court.
By pronouncing eight Indian employees of the US company guilty, the court accepted the CBI’s contention that defective design of the Union Carbide India Limited factory and poor maintenance were responsible for the tragedy.
No word on Anderson
However, there was no word on Warren Anderson, the then Chairman of Union Carbide Corporation of the US who was also made an accused in the case. He was arrested immediately after the tragedy, but later released on bail. Anderson has since been absconding.
Anderson remains charged with more serious offences. In 2009, even a non-bailable warrant was issued against Warren Anderson. However, the CBI could not process it.
CBI counsel C Sahay had contended that the Union Carbide Corporation, US, surveyed the Bhopal factory in 1982 and found serious safety and maintenance lapses on nearly 10 counts.
The disaster was caused when late in the evening of December 2, 1984, plant’s safety systems failed leading to the mixing of methyl isocyanate - a key ingredient for pesticide manufacturing - to mix with water at high temperatures. Before the ill-equipped staff could take any corrective measures, the toxic mixture started to release clouds of highly toxic gas in to the atmospheres – killing thousands in the neighbourhood while in their sleep.
The number of fatalities caused by the disaster remains disputed. While the Madhya Pradesh government has officially put the number at 3787, NGOs working with the victims say more than six times as many were killed and nearly 250,000 harmed.
Although, the verdict has come but questions remain about the tardy manner in which rehabilitation of the victims has been carried out by successive governments. The victims were given a meagre compensation - Rs 25,000 for the injured and Rs 1 lakh for those who lost their lives.
Anyways, a maximum of 2 years sentence for the world’s worst industrial disaster…the wounds are deeper and will take more time to heal.
The verdict is nothing less than outrageous. While we can philosophize that the quantum of jail punishment for the guilty, though seemingly benign, is acceptable as they did not purposely intend to kill anyone and the whole thing was an accident, a fine of merely Rs.1 lakh on Keshub Mahindra is preposterous. The amount of fine should have been nothing less than Rs.10,000 crores for Union Carbide India and US$10 Billion for the original American owners of the company. The verdict is no less a tragedy than the industrial leak itself, because while thousands of men, women and children died, the upholders of justice have killed the very sense of justice by this verdict. All India must rise in protest against this inhuman verdict.
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