Twenty six years after the horrific Bhopal gas tragedy of December 2-3, 1984, a trial court in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, has given its verdict. This verdict is a complete travesty of justice. People all over India and across the world have expressed horror and anger at the verdict.
Twenty six years after the horrific Bhopal gas tragedy of December 2-3, 1984, a trial court in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, has given its verdict. This verdict is a complete travesty of justice. People all over India and across the world have expressed horror and anger at the verdict.
Warren Anderson, the head of Union Carbide, the accused no.1 has escaped scot free. Eight others have been given a sentence of two years, and they have already been released on bail for Rs.25,000 each! It may be recalled that over 25,000 working people died from the gas leak and over 5 lakh working people living in the neighbourhood have been affected seriously for life as a consequence of the gas leak. The toxic chemicals left in the ground water and at the factory site are being consumed by approximately 20,000 people every day, because the governments of India and Madhya Pradesh are not providing them with clean drinking water.
The charges against those that were found guilty were framed under Section 304 A of the Indian Penal Code — the provision used most frequently in India for traffic accidents. There was no verdict against Warren Anderson, against Union Carbide Corporation USA, nor against Union Carbide (Eastern) Hong Kong — all are absconding.
The compensation that the victims finally received is Rs. 15,000 per victim on an average, for which they had to run from pillar to post.
All evidence indicates that successive governments at the Center have connived to ensure that Union Carbide and its owners and managers got away scot free. Warren Anderson, was allowed to leave India by the CBI following orders from the then government of Rajiv Gandhi. The government of India has never seriously pursued extradition of this man with the US government.
The Supreme Court of India, under instruction from the government, quashed charges against Union Carbide in 1989. In 1991, under public pressure, it reinstated charges. In 1996, it reduced charges to the present charges which are akin to those made in traffic accidents. The CBI never sought review of this judgment. Thus the results of the trial in the sessions court in Bhopal was a foregone conclusion.
It has been well documented that Union Carbide was aware of the dangerous consequences of the gas leak, and is guilty of criminal negligence. A worker had died and dozens injured in two separate accidents at the plant in 1981 and 1982. All the 6 safety systems in the plant were not operational on the night of December 2, 1984. The plant siren had been turned off. Maintenance supervisors had been eliminated from most shifts as cost cutting measures, even though the officials knew about the hazardous situation. It was a tragedy waiting to happen, made to happen, and it happened.
Various ministers of the UPA government are shedding crocodile tears at the verdict. They cannot fool the people who have been fighting so long, and so hard for justice. Facts conclusively show that all the governments at the centre, as well as the Supreme Court of India and the investigative agencies of the state have together, deliberately protected the guilty and blocked the fight for justice.
Mazdoor Ekta Lehar holds the Union Government squarely responsible for denying justice to the victims of the Bhopal Gas tragedy. It is clear that apart from everything else, the sole concern of successive governments at the center that has dictated their callous attitude to the Bhopal gas victims and survivors, is to ensure that nothing is done that will jeopardize the efforts of the government to invite foreign capital to our country to plunder our labour and resources, kill and maim people, all in the drive for maximum profits. This is a government of the capitalist class which cares only for the Indian and foreign capitalist class, not for the lives and well being of the workers and working people.
The struggle to punish the guilty shall continue!