Bhopal December 2, 1984 : the warning bell rings On the afternoon of december 2,1984, Ram Chandra Batham, an Union Carbide mechanic called up district collector Moti Singh to inform the latter that he suspected a leakage of the poisonous methyl isocyanite gas at the UCIL factory premise. Plant superintendent K V Shetty and others higher up in the hierarchy disagreed with him and on that ill-fated night of 2nd-3rd December, the night of the world’s worst industrial catastrophe, our basic human right, the right to live, was violated in a most inhumane way .
The malfunctioning Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) pesticide plant at Bhopal led to a sudden release of the deadly methyl isocyanate gas into the environment and also the chronic seepage resulting from negligence in storing of another 390 tons of equally hazardous chemicals (kept in the open), over the years, into the subsoil and ground water, leading to contamination of most of the drinking water sources, leading to an unprecedented rise in morbidity among 1.7 lakh people. Many of them are suffering from failing vision, blindness, reproductive disorders, congenital deformities, stunted growth, cancers, respiratory and nervous ailments and a host of other chronic and debilitating diseases in their terminal stages. The disease processes have shown no respite for the young or the aged or younger or older generations and an unheard of mortality among the local populace have left almost 20-25 thousand people dead (15274 officially) till date. Even today 6000 incidences of illnesses are recorded on a daily basis and many of these remain most ill-understood, ill-diagnosed and partially treated or untreated in the aftermath of the tragedy, that has lasted for almost 26 years and will continue to bother us and our future generations more, in the years to come. Amnesty International quotes a figure of 8000 deaths in the first three days only, such was the magnitude of the disaster ! Bhopal June 7, 2010 : The verdict of THE BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY has already been given by the chief judicial magistrate Mohan P Tiwari in his 93-page judgement and people have variously called it tragic, inhuman, a farce or even described it as ‘justice buried’ but I would like to ask you all to consider rationally that what seems to be tragic, inhuman, a farce or even a justice buried has its roots deeply buried in the grossly wrong venture of the central government filing a highly mis-matched claim of $ 3.3 billion in feb 1985 and ultimately settling for an out-of-court deal with UCC for a paltry $ 470 million compensation in feb 1989, unethical and probably leading to vested management of the acquired compensation fund by 1992, decision of apex court to allow UCC to sell its stake in UCIL to McLeod Russell(India) Ltd in 1994, decision of the apex court in sept 1996 to dilute the charges from section 304(2) to 304A (causing death by negligence – a section used to deal with vehicular accidents) in favour of the indian accused on the basis of a petition moved by them citing that culpability basically lies with the UCC only and the subsequent failure of CBI to lodge protest against such a verdict, centre’s ultimate decision to request US to extradite Anderson in may 2003 and the US rejection of the same in june 2004 on the ground of failing to meet ‘certain provisions’ in the extradition treaty ! The case started losing its legal clout through all these years and was already lost in the woods way back in 1996, when the indian accused made sure that even if they were found guilty, all the sections under which they have been charged carried a maximum term of two years with a substantial fine only under section 304A. I would say the case was totally lost due to the two separate decisions of the apex court in 1994 and 1996 respectively and what remained was the obligation to complete a futile legal exercise. The role of the apex court should be scrutinized thoroughly and if any of its directives are in direct confrontation with the interest of the nation and/or human rights issues, one should have an in-built constitutional provision for reconsideration of the same. Why did the centre take such a long time to ask for the extradition of Anderson or why did the CBI not actively pursue the case in 1996, are questions that need to be answered, if justice is to prevail. Were the governments that ruled at the centre throughout this two decade period, in two minds, regarding this issue and if so why ? Thus as expected all the seven indian accused Keshub Mahindra – the then non-executive chairman UCIL, Vijay Gokhale – the then managing director UCIL, Kishor Kamdar – the then vice-president UCIL, J Mukund – the then works manager UCIL, S P Chaudhary – the then production manager, K V Shetty – the then plant superintendent UCIL and S I Qureshi – the then production assistant were held guilty under sections 304A (causing death by negligence), 336, 337, 338 (gross negligence) of the Indian Penal Code and have been sentenced to two years in jail and fined Rs 1.01 lakh each. UCIL has been fined Rs 5.01 lakh and as expected there is huge silence about Warren Anderson and the remaining two accused Union Carbide(US) and Union Carbide Eastern(Hong Kong). It was also least surprising that all the convicts have been granted bail against a surety of Rs 25000 each. Bhopal December 7, 1984 : Moti Singh, the then district collector of Bhopal remembers how he was summoned by Arjun Singh to the chief minister’s residence at 8 am in the morning (4 days after the gas leak) and was told that Warren Anderson would be arriving in Bhopal shortly and instructions have already been given to airport officials not to let the plane land till his (Moti Singh’s) arrival there. Singh reached the airport as fast as he could, but by then the plane has already landed, its door still remaining closed. Anderson was waiting inside with Union Carbide India chairman Keshub Mahindra and managing director Vijay Gokhale. All three of them were arrested and taken to Carbide’s Shyamala Hills guest house and the police filed a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304(2) against them, that would have ensured a minimum punishment of 10 years and a maximum of life term. It would have been a nail in their coffin as it was also a non-bailable offence. At 2 pm chief secretary Brahm Swaroop called Moti Singh and superintendent of police Swaraj Puri to his office and issued instructions to them that a plane was waiting for Anderson and they were to complete all required formalities to ensure that Anderson could fly to Delhi as soon as possible. One needs to clearly understand at this point at whose behest charges under that section were dropped and the police reframed the case with the intent of releasing Anderson on a bailable offence on the very date ! The then Arjun Singh government was happy not only to earn the tag of “good governance” in providing for such VVIP treatment to Warren Anderson and his associates, but also arranged for Anderson’s immediate safe passage to Delhi on a state owned B-200 Super King aircraft. The duo made quick arrangements for a Carbide employee to secure Anderson’s bail for a surety of Rs 25000 and an undertaking that he would come back to face criminal charges. They also managed to convince the much disgruntled an unwilling american, who was bent upon seeing the affected areas, to return to Delhi immediately and eventually accompanied him to the airport, thus ending his six-hour stay in Bhopal. Captain D C Sondhi, then director of aviation in Bhopal and one of the two pilots of the B200 Super King aircraft, remembers how he had received a call from Arjun Singh’s office at 2.30 pm and was asked to get the aircraft ready. Anderson arrived at the Raja Bhoj airport accompanied by the Bhopal district collector, Moti Singh and city superintendent police, Swaraj Puri. The police officers accompanying Anderson repeatedly offered to carry the american’s hand luggage as they escorted him to the aircraft but the latter never relenting. When the aircraft was about to take off, the officials saluted Anderson and wished him good luck. A much relaxed Anderson slept for most part of the 90 minute flight as stated by Ved Prakash Grover, a Bhopal-based businessman and an “unauthorized” co-passenger, who never knew his true identity but thought him to be a very influential person, who was even saluted by the airport officials on duty ! Captain Syed Hasan Ali, the co-pilot remembers that Anderson though calm was in a hurry to reach Delhi and had dozed off in mid-flight. At Delhi’s Palam airport before departing, he thanked the crew, shook hands with them and left calmly to meet some officials of the US embassy who were waiting for him. Anderson then boarded a commercial flight to New York, never to return to this country. What led to a change in the decision of the state government headed by a seasoned politician like Arjun Singh to release Anderson unconditionally, when he was already under arrest under section 304(2), a non-bailable offence, is the million dollar question. Was there a call from the PMO or the union home ministry ? There is also the felt need to unmask and punish those people in power at that time, who had collaborated with the murderers of our innocent country-men and their families and even allowed the prime offender to flee the country. One has definitely the right to know about the developments that took place between 9am and 2pm on December 7, between Bhopal and Delhi, leading to the shameful misuse of a state government machinery of the Indian republic. Former foreign secretary M K Rasgotra has already claimed that Warren Anderson was given a “safe passage” on the advice of the then home minister P V Narasimha Rao. Cabinet secretary C R Krishnaswamy Rao was also knowledgable about the issue.Rajiv Gandhi who was very new to politics at that time and who also held the external affairs portfolio then, only concurred with the decision on being informed at a later stage. Is it possible that as the prime minister of the largest democracy in the world, Rajiv Gandhi would not have any knowledge of such developments in his own ministry, even after four days of this tragic occurrence ? Former principal secretary P C Alexander has even hinted that the then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Arjun Singh acted as an implementor and made arrangements for Warren Anderson’s escape probably on Rajiv Gandhi’s orders (wishes). Who will answer while people were dying in thousands in Bhopal, why the Rajiv Gandhi government thought it fit to convene a meeting of the ministers on this tragic and inhuman issue, only on december 10 ? Was the delay intentional and to whose benefit ? P C Alexander has gone on record saying that a separate meeting between Rajiv and Arjun Singh took place that evening after the formal meeting was over but also claims ignorance about the topic of discussion. The nation has definitely the right to know about all the discussions that took place between the two of them in between December 7 and December 10 1984 and the key person who may provide the answers to all our queries and may be to many more such queries in the future is Mr Arjun Singh. The two other key players Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao, are no more with us. -- Adv Kamayani Bali Mahabal +919820749204 skype-lawyercumactivist "After a war, the silencing of arms is not enough. Peace means respecting all rights. You can’t respect one of them and violate the others. When a society doesn’t respect the rights of its citizens, it undermines peace and leads it back to war.” -- Maria Julia Hernandez www.otherindia.org www.binayaksen.net www.phm-india.org www.phmovement.org www.ifhhro.org -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to humanrights-movem...@googlegroups.com. 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