Apex court to re-examine its Bhopal gas tragedy verdict

In a decision that may assuage to an extent the deep hurt being felt by thousands of victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984, the Supreme Court (SC) accepted on Tuesday a CBI petition seeking a cure to its controversial 1996 judgment that mellowed the charges against the guilty.

The three most senior judges of the apex court — SH Kapadia, Altamas Kabir and RV Raveendran — examined the curative petition settled by attorney general Goolam E Vahanvati and passed a brief order. “Issue a notice. This petition be listed after service is complete,” the court said.

This means all the seven accused, including then Union Carbide India (UCI) chairman Keshub Mahindra, who were sentenced to two years in prison by Bhopal trial court judge MP Tiwari on June 7 but were granted bail immediately, will be issued notices once again.

A notice will also be issued to Warren Anderson, then chairman of parent company Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) who is a pronounced absconder.
Anderson was briefly arrested on December 7, 1984, when he came to India to take stock of the situation, but was granted bail within hours. He later jumped bail and rushed back home to the United States.

The seven accused will have to explain why the curative petition shouldn’t be
accepted. One argument, of course, is that the petition is time-barred.
On the night of December 2-3, 1984, highly poisonous gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, killing thousands and causing grievous harm to tens of thousands. Thousands more, including children born after the tragedy, continue to suffer ill-effects, while the death toll is pegged at over 15,000 so far.

SC had on September 13, 1996, reduced the charge against the top management of UCI from “culpable homicide not amounting to murder”, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment, to “causing death by negligence”, which carries a maximum punishment of two years and is applied in case of motor accidents!

Incidentally, then chief justice AM Ahmadi and justice SB Majumdar, who reduced the charge, had rejected a review petition filed by NGO Bhopal Gas Peedit Udyog Sangathan. CBI did not file a curative plea then.

After judge Tiwari sentenced the guilty to imprisonment for two years, there was a public outcry. The government came under an attack for failing to take any curative step to review the judgment or get Anderson extradited. There was a demand for greater medical aid and compensation to the victims. A group of ministers agreed to all the measures and CBI decided to file the curative plea.

The petition, which was drafted by advocate Dev Dutt Kamat, says it is an attempt to set right the “gross miscarriage and perpetuation of irremediable injustice” being suffered by the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy and the nation as a whole.

The 1996 judgment said: “In fairness to prosecution, it was not suggested and could not be suggested that the accused had an intention to kill any human being while operating the plant. Similarly on the material placed on record it could not be even prima facie suggested by the prosecution that any of the accused had a knowledge that by operating the plant on that fateful night (was) …likely to cause the death of any human being.”

But Tiwari’s verdict, which forms the basis for the curative petition, flayed UCC for lack of knowledge and concern while operating a defective plant that contained poisonous material. The judge said, “We all are aware how dangerous phosgene [used at the Bhopal plant] is. In World War II, Adolf Hitler had used the same [gas] for assassinating Jews. How can such a gas be handled by untrained or less-trained workers?”