Bhopal verdict due after 25 years

[sparklingway]

Bhopal verdict due after 25 years


The abandoned Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, pictured on 2 December 2009
The effects of the gas continue to this day​

A court in the Indian city of Bhopal is due to rule on whether a gas plant leak that killed thousands of people more than 25 years ago was a criminal act.

The leak at the Union Carbide plant was worst industrial disaster in history.

Forty tonnes of a toxin called methyl isocyanate leaked from the factory and settled over slums on 3 December 1984.

Campaigners say at least 15,000 people were killed within days, and say the horrific effects of the gas continue to this day.

The site of the former pesticide plant is now abandoned.

It was taken over by the state government of Madhya Pradesh in 1998, but environmentalists say poison is still found there.

More than a dozen judges have heard the criminal case since 1987, when India's leading detective agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), charged 12 people with "culpable homicide not amounting to murder".

That charge could have led to up to 10 years of imprisonment for the accused.

BHOPAL'S DEATH TOLL
Initial deaths (3-6 December): more than 3,000 - official toll
Unofficial initial toll: 7,000-8,000
Total deaths to date: over 15,000
Number affected: Nearly 600,000
Compensation: Union Carbide pays $470m in 1989

Source: Indian Supreme Court, Madhya Pradesh government, Indian Council of Medical Research

Among those accused are Warren Anderson, the chairman of Union Carbide at the time of the incident in 1984.

However, in 1996, India's Supreme Court reduced the charges to "death by negligence", carrying a maximum sentence of up to two years in prison if convicted.

"Everyone is angry because the accused, if convicted, will get away with a light term of two years,' Bhopal activist Abdul Jabbar said ahead of the court's verdict.

Campaigners say Bhopal has an unusually high incidence of children with birth defects and growth deficiency, as well as cancers, diabetes and other chronic illnesses.

These are seen not only among survivors of the gas leak but among people born many years later, they say.

Twenty years ago Union Carbide paid $470m (£282m) in compensation to the Indian government.

Dow Chemicals, which bought the company in 1999, says this settlement resolved all existing and future claims against the company.

 

[Nemesis]

Two years for the accused! and they all got bail, for killing thousands. What a bloody joke. For all the talk of India being a "great power" we cannot even guarantee justice for our own citizens. Disgusting.

 

[idune]

Bhopal trial: Eight convicted over India gas disaster

A court in the Indian city of Bhopal has sentenced eight people to two years each in jail over a gas plant leak that killed thousands of people in 1984.

The convictions are the first since the disaster at the Union Carbide plant - the world's worst industrial accident.

The eight Indians, all former plant employees, were convicted of "death by negligence". One had already died - the others are expected to appeal.

Campaigners said the court verdict was "too little and too late".

'Betrayal'

Forty tonnes of a toxin called methyl isocyanate leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory and settled over slums in Bhopal on 3 December 1984.


ANALYSIS

Soutik Biswas, BBC News, Delhi
Twenty-five years after the world's worst industrial disaster, people have finally been held legally responsible.

But the verdict is being described as more symbolic than just by rights groups and NGOs who have been working with the maimed gas victims.

They say that two-year prison sentences for Indians found guilty over the tragedy which killed thousands is an indictment of the country's slow-moving criminal justice system and investigative agencies.

Campaigners would like to see the former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson, the prime accused in the case, brought to justice. A warrant for his arrest was issued by an Indian court in 2003 but never acted on.

Biswas: Bhopal's tragedy

The Indian government says some 3,500 people died within days and more than 15,000 in the years since.

Campaigners put the death toll as high as 25,000 and say the horrific effects of the gas continue to this day.

The site of the former pesticide plant is now abandoned.

It was taken over by the state government of Madhya Pradesh in 1998, but environmentalists say poison is still found there.

The eight convicted on Monday were Keshub Mahindra, the chairman of the Indian arm of the Union Carbide (UCIL); VP Gokhale, managing director; Kishore Kamdar, vice-president; J Mukund, works manager; SP Chowdhury, production manager; KV Shetty, plant superintendent; SI Qureshi, production assistant. All of them are Indians.

The seven former employees, some of whom are now in their 70s, were also ordered to pay fines of 100,000 Indian rupees (£1,467; $2,125) apiece.

Although Warren Anderson, the American then-chairman of the US-based Union Carbide parent group, was named as an accused and later declared an "absconder" by the court, he was not mentioned in Monday's verdict.

Compensation

Rights groups and NGOs working with the victims of the gas leak said that the verdict was inadequate.


BHOPAL'S DEATH TOLL

Initial deaths (3-6 December): more than 3,000 - official toll
Unofficial initial toll: 7,000-8,000
Total deaths to date: over 15,000
Number affected: Nearly 600,000
Compensation: Union Carbide pays $470m in 1989


Source: Indian Supreme Court, Madhya Pradesh government, Indian Council of Medical Research


In pictures: Bhopal anniversary
Survivors fight for justice
"It sets a very sad precedent. The disaster has been treated like a traffic accident. It is a judicial disaster, and it is a betrayal [of Indian people] by the government," activist Satinath Sarangi said.

Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Women's Workers group, told the AFP news agency that "justice will be done in Bhopal only if individuals and corporations responsible are punished in an exemplary manner".

More than a dozen judges have heard the criminal case since 1987, when India's leading detective agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), charged 12 people with "culpable homicide not amounting to murder".

That charge could have led to up to 10 years in prison for the accused.

However, in 1996, India's Supreme Court reduced the charges to "death by negligence", carrying a maximum sentence of up to two years in prison if convicted.

Campaigners say Bhopal has an unusually high incidence of children with birth defects and growth deficiency, as well as cancers, diabetes and other chronic illnesses.

These are seen not only among survivors of the gas leak but among people born many years later, they say.

Twenty years ago Union Carbide paid $470m (£282m) in compensation to the Indian government.

Dow Chemicals, which bought the company in 1999, says this settlement resolved all existing and future claims against the company.

BBC News - Bhopal trial: Eight convicted over India gas disaster

 

[Jade]

Justice too late and too little

 

[idune]

"Justice delayed justice denied".

 

[Chanakyaa]

This is a Not Defence Related Thread posted in India Defence ...

 

[below_freezing]

ÃÀ¹«Ë¾¸ß¹ÜäÂÖ°ÖÂ60ÍòÓ¡¶ÈÈËÓöÄÑ 25Äêºó»ñÇáÅÐ_ÐÂÎÅ_ÌÚѶÍø

translate.google.com

 

[lhuang]

2 years -.-

 

[xuxu1457]

Sad for that~~~

 

[iron_man2]

very sad. wtf only 2 years..

 

[humblehobbes]

Is justice blind?
Jun 08 2010
Bhopal, June 7: Over 25 years after the deadly gas leak at Union Carbide plant here in December 1984, which killed over 20,000 people and critically wounded hundreds of thousands others, Bhopal’s chief judicial magistrate, Mr Mohan P. Tiwari, on Monday delivered judgment in the criminal case that followed, sentencing all seven accused, including the then Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) chief Keshub Mahindra to two years in jail under Section 304-A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code and a fine of Rs 1 lakh each.

While convicting the accused, the CJM’s court also granted bail to all those convicted on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 and a security of like amount.

Besides 85-year-old Mahindra, now chairman of automotive firm Mahindra and Mahindra, the six others from UCIL (now defunct) sentenced on Monday include its then managing director V.P. Gokhale, then vice-president Kishore Kamdar, then Bhopal plant works manager J. Mukund, plant production manager S.P. Choudhary, plant superintendent K.V. Shetty and plant production assistant Shakeel Qureshi. Another accused, the then assistant works manager R.B. Roy Chaudhary, died in the course of the trial.

But 89-year-old Warren Anderson, chairman of Union Carbide Corporation (UCIL’s parent company) at the time of the disaster, who was named the main accused days after the gas leak, appears to have gone scot-free for now. He did not subject himself to trial and is still an absconder. There was no word about him in Monday’s order.

The CJM’s court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakhs against UCIL under Section 304-A IPC. All the accused were also sentenced to three months’ jail and fined Rs 250 each under Section 336 IPC; to six months’ jail and a fine of Rs 500 each under Section 337 IPC; and one-year jail and a fine of Rs 1,000 each under Section 338 IPC. The company has been sentenced to pay the same fine under Sections 336, 337 and 338 IPC.

The CJM has given all those convicted a month’s time to file appeals, if any.

Is justice blind?

 

[below_freezing]

it is disgusting how these idiots got off so lightly.

they should be executed by elephant like in ancient india.

 

[Justin Joseph]

Plz spare this beautiful forum from spams, How it's related to India Defense section?????????

 

[Marxist]

what about this man ?

Warren Anderson(most wanted)

 

[below_freezing]

what about this man ?

Warren Anderson(most wanted)

he's in retirement at a mansion in the US. why do you ask?