First Convictions for 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Former chairman of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) Keshub Mahindra (C) leaves a courthouse in Bhopal on June 7. An Indian court sentenced the former top managers of the company blamed for the massive Bhopal gas leak to two years in prison on Monday. These are the first convictions over the catastrophe which poisoned tens of thousands of people in the world's worst industrial accident. (AFP/Getty Images)

Nearly 26 years after a deadly cloud of gas escaped from a pesticide factory smothering the community of Bhopal, India with poisonous fumes, an Indian court declared eight Indian nationals guilty of negligence on Monday.

Seven face fines and maximum sentences of two years in prison; the eighth who stood trial is deceased. The court made no mention of prosecuting American Warren Anderson the chairman of the Union Carbide Company (UCC), which owned the plant at the time of the disaster in 1984.

Anderson was one of nine people accused by the Indian government in 1987. He fled to the United States and refused to appear in court. Attempts to extradite him have been unsuccessful.

The verdict has elicited indignation from human rights groups. AI called on the United States and Indian governments to take measures for more comprehensive justice.

“We feel outraged and betrayed. This is not justice. This is a travesty of justice,” said Hazra Bee of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal in a press statement.

“The paltry sentencing is a slap in the face of suffering Bhopal victims,” said Bee, pledging that survivors will challenge the decision in higher legal fora.

“The convictions of the Indian accused in this case are clearly not enough—the governments of India and the U.S. must ensure that the foreign accused, including UCC, are also made to face trial,” said director of Global Issues at Amnesty International, Audrey Gaughran in a press release.

Negligence

The Bhopal gas tragedy has been considered the worst ever corporate disaster. In the early morning hours of Dec. 3, 1984, 40 tons of the highly toxic and volatile chemical methyl isocyanate (MIC) leaked from storage containers in a factory owned by Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), a subsidiary of American UCC.

The company was storing MIC in much greater quantities than recommended, and in an effort to cut costs, had turned off the refrigeration around the chemical, which should be stored at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.

The gas killed between 7,000 and 10,000 people immediately according to the Amnesty figures and untold numbers continued to suffer.

Cancer, blindness, lameness, mental retardation, numerous birth defects, and reproductive difficulties afflict the Bhopali people. The ailments are the result of the gas leak and contamination of ground water from other toxic chemicals released by the factory, according to the Bhopal Medical Appeal (BMA).

Compensation

UCC participated in immediate relief efforts and paid a settlement of $470 million. In a statement, UCC claims that the leak was the result of deliberate sabotage, a claim that was never proven according to International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.

Michigan-based Dow Chemicals, which bought UCC in 2001, denies any further responsibility for the situation. It claims all cases were settled. A statement on the Dow website quotes an Indian media source from 2006 saying, “‘All cases of initial compensation claims by victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy have been cleared. … With the clearance of initial compensation claims and revision petitions, no case is pending.”