Eight people convicted over deadly Bhopal disaster

A district court in Bhopal, India convicted on Monday eight former officials of the Indian branch of the US chemicals company Union Carbide for a deadly gas leak in 1984 that killed nearly 15,000 people, according to estimates.

A cloud of the gas methyl isocyanate escaped from a storage tank of the company’s factories in the early hours of December 3, 1984 in the city of Bhopal, instantly killing thousands in the world’s worst industrial disaster.

Many more have died in the intervening years, according to activists and government agencies, due to lethal chemicals in the groundwater and soil that have caused birth defects and chronic illnesses.

“All eight were senior members of the management of Union Carbide,” said Vikram Singh, FRANCE 24 correspondent in New Delhi, India. The men were convicted of criminal negligence, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail and the possibility of a fine.

The most senior official convicted is 85-year old Keshub Mahindra, chairman of India’s multinational giant Mahindra & Mahindra and a recipient of France’s top honour, the Legion d’honneur. At the time of the disaster, he was chairman of Union Carbide’s Indian branch, UCIL. The others convicted included the company’s managing director, vice president and other supervisors.

Then-chairman of Union Carbide US citizen, Warren Anderson, was among the accused, but was not named in the verdicts on Monday after the Bhopal court declared him an "absconder".

Too little, too late

The verdict is the first in 25 years, but many victims’ groups are unsatisfied with the result. “This is a verdict that not many people are satisfied with,” said Singh. “Many people… have said the quantum of sentence is very low”.

The original charge of culpable homicide, which carries a sentence of 10 years imprisonment, was controversially reduced to the much lighter charge of criminal negligence by India’s Supreme Court in 1996.

Amongst victims’ groups the verdict is being seen as too little, too late.

"Too little too late" - Vikram Singh reporting from New Delhi, 11H, 07/06/10

The case is also seen as being delayed due to India’s “notoriously slow” judicial system, said Singh, with criticism levelled at the public prosecutors for their lax handling of the case. In addition, the case was complex, with hundreds of witnesses and thousands of documents brought forward as evidence.

Activists also blame delays in prosecuting the case over a “lack of political will”, after the government reached a controversial agreement with Union Carbide, said Singh.

Union Carbide had cleared its liabilities after settling out of court with the Indian government for 470 million dollars in 1989, before being bought by Dow Chemical. But studies show that the industrial site is still contaminated with thousands of tonnes of toxic chemicals.