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Shock and disbelief were writ large on the faces of activists and survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy whose hopes were dashed when the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the CBI plea for more stringent punishment to the seven accused.
Victims blame CBI for shoddy probe
Many blamed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for failing to defend the victims of the world's worst industrial disaster that occurred at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, killing at least 3,000 people on the night of December 2-3, 1984 and many thousands later.
“We are not demanding charity, we are demanding justice which has not been done in 26 years. All this is happening because the gas tragedy victims are poor,” said Abdul Jabbar, a survivor and convenor of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udhyog Sangathan.
The apex court on Wednesday dismissed the CBI's petition challenging its 1996 verdict that had diluted charges against the accused - then Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others - for causing death due to negligence.
The charges against the accused were diluted by the SC in its September 13, 1996 judgment. They were convicted by a Bhopal court last year under the less stringent provision of causing death due to negligence, carrying a maximum punishment of two years in jail.
The CBI had moved the apex court, seeking direction of the framing of charges against Mahindra and others for culpable homicide not amounting to murder that attracts the maximum imprisonment of 10 years. But the apex court rejected the plea.
The apex court also said the 1996 judgment in no way shackled the trial court in Madhya Pradesh from framing charges under the stringent provisions of the criminal procedure.
Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action alleged that the CBI was never interested in fighting for the gas victims. “It’s we who have been fighting against the 1996 SC verdict. The CBI woke up only after pressure from the group of ministers and put a curative petition after 14 years,” she said.
RECAP
The Union Carbide disaster, in which poisonous methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the plant on the night of December 2-3, 1984, killed 3,000 people instantly and 25,000 over the years.
It affected 1 lakh people and estimates are that more than 5 lakh continue to suffer from ill effects of the gas.
Source
Victims blame CBI for shoddy probe
Many blamed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for failing to defend the victims of the world's worst industrial disaster that occurred at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, killing at least 3,000 people on the night of December 2-3, 1984 and many thousands later.
“We are not demanding charity, we are demanding justice which has not been done in 26 years. All this is happening because the gas tragedy victims are poor,” said Abdul Jabbar, a survivor and convenor of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udhyog Sangathan.
The apex court on Wednesday dismissed the CBI's petition challenging its 1996 verdict that had diluted charges against the accused - then Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others - for causing death due to negligence.
The charges against the accused were diluted by the SC in its September 13, 1996 judgment. They were convicted by a Bhopal court last year under the less stringent provision of causing death due to negligence, carrying a maximum punishment of two years in jail.
The CBI had moved the apex court, seeking direction of the framing of charges against Mahindra and others for culpable homicide not amounting to murder that attracts the maximum imprisonment of 10 years. But the apex court rejected the plea.
The apex court also said the 1996 judgment in no way shackled the trial court in Madhya Pradesh from framing charges under the stringent provisions of the criminal procedure.
Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action alleged that the CBI was never interested in fighting for the gas victims. “It’s we who have been fighting against the 1996 SC verdict. The CBI woke up only after pressure from the group of ministers and put a curative petition after 14 years,” she said.
RECAP
The Union Carbide disaster, in which poisonous methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the plant on the night of December 2-3, 1984, killed 3,000 people instantly and 25,000 over the years.
It affected 1 lakh people and estimates are that more than 5 lakh continue to suffer from ill effects of the gas.
Source
