Issue No. 602
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5 - 11 September 2002 Issue No. 602 International |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Justice for the people of Bhopal
A Bhopal court has finally ruled to uphold homicide charges against Union Carbide's boss. Sudhanshu Ranjan reports from New Delhi
The victims of the world's worst industrial disaster, the Bhopal gas tragedy, are still waiting for justice after 19 long years. To recap, on 3 December 1983, five tonnes of highly poisonous methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the plant of the US corporation, Union Carbide (UC). In the immediate aftermath of the leakage, more than 3,000 people in Bhopal died. Since then, a further 10,000 people have died.
Eighteen years on, with UC now a part of the Dow Chemicals conglomerate, those responsible for the deaths and illnesses of thousands, still haven't been brought to trial.
But hope has filtered through from the judiciary. On 28 August, the chief judicial magistrate of Bhopal dismissed the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) plea to reduce the charge against UC chief executive Warren Anderson from "culpable homicide" to "a rash and negligent act".
Greenpeace activists demonstrate against US transnational Dow Chemical outside its Bombay office. The company took over US-based Union Carbide, the company whose Bhopal subsidiary leaked caustic gases in 1983 in one of the world's worst industrial disasters, killing thousands of people (photo: Reuters)
Testimonies by former employees reveal that Anderson disregarded even minimal safety provisions. The plant's safety equipment did not work in 1983, and gas storage tanks were overfilled.
The judge has also asked the CBI to speed up Anderson's extradition. UC, which was acquired by Michigan-based Dow Chemicals two years ago, and its Asian unit, Union Carbide Eastern Inc-Hong Kong, are the other two defendants in the case. Anderson is, at present, a fugitive under Indian law. In December 1984, he flew to Bhopal, for a three-day visit, during which he was arrested and, later, released on bail. He retired from the company in November 1996.
The environmental group, Greenpeace, has welcomed the court ruling, stating that, "Bhopal is an ongoing disaster, 120,000 people still face serious health problems, and children born to survivors have also been affected."
UC's operations in India hark back to the beginning of the 1900s. In 1924, an assembly plant for batteries was set up in Calcutta. By 1983, UC had 14 plants in India, manufacturing chemicals, pesticides, batteries and other products. But the company was operating at a loss and preparing to relocate. Financial losses and plans to dismantle the Bhopal plant probably exacerbated UC's already negligent management practices. It was these practices that caused the contamination of the MIC storage tank, eventually leading to disaster.
In the months following the tragedy, the Indian government issued an ordinance appointing itself as the sole legal representative of the victims. The government then filed a compensation and damage suit against the company in the US District Court of New York. Besides filing the suit, one of the government's prime responsibilities was to register the claims of each and every gas victim. This was not seriously done for another ten years. The government also set up various enquiry commissions to investigate the causes of the disaster, but they have proved insubstantial and inconclusive.
UC, on the other hand, conducted its own investigations and announced in March 1985 that the disaster was "an act of sabotage" by a Sikh terrorist. With militancy in the Punjab at its peak, it was convenient to blame terrorism. When this strategy failed, the company tried to shift the blame on to a disgruntled worker. Finally, once the Bhopal plant had closed its doors, the company reached an out of court settlement with its 627 laid off workers. On 3 December 1985, UC paid $1.8 million to the workers and their families..
Despite the settlement, the US-based suit followed its course. On 12 May 1986, Judge JF Keenan ruled that India and not the US was the appropriate forum for the Bhopal case, but he asked UC to provide an interim relief payment of $5-10 million as "a matter of fundamental human decency".
On 14 February 1989, the Indian Supreme Court ordered UC to pay $470 million in "full and final settlement" of all claims, rights and liabilities caused by the disaster.
The Indian people were outraged. The compensation amounted to a paltry $200 per victim. Hearings followed, and, on 3 October 1991, the court upheld the civil settlement, but permitted the criminal case to be reopened. Criminal cases against the defendants are therefore still pending in Indian courts. The latest ruling against Warren Anderson has rekindled hope that the guilty will, eventually, be brought to justice.
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