Bhopal Tragedy: SC Rejects CBI's Plea

The Supreme Court (SC) rejected the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) curative petition to reopen the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy case and to award harsher punishment to the accused.

The 5-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kalpadia slammed the CBI for filing a petition without providing sufficient explanation, and for reacting to the 1996 judgement 15 years after it was awarded.

Looking at the annals of the case, one observes that the prime accused in one of the world's worst industrial catasrophes were sentenced to a mere 2 years of imprisonment, 26 years after the incident occured.

Errant maintenance at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), in December 1984, had resulted in the leakage of 40 metric tonnes of the higly toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC). Over 15,000 residents of Bhopal lost their lives, and more than 5 lakhs people were either partially or completely disabled after being exposed to the toxic fumes.

The judgement passed by the apex court in 1996 diluted the charges against the 7 accused from "culpable homicide not amounting to murder" (under Section 304-II) to "causing death by negligence" (under Section 304 A).

The maximum punishment under Section 304-II is 10years of imprisonment, while that under Section 304 A is 2 years of imprisonment.

As a result, Keshub Mahindra, Vijay Gokhale, Kishore Kamdar, J N Mukund, S P Choudhary, K V Shetty and S I Quereshi, who had served as the Chairman, Managing Director, Vice President, Works Manager, Production Manager, Plant Superintendent and Production Assistant, respectively, at the time of the catastrophe, were sentenced to 2 years in prison in June 2010. They were soon bailed out.

Based on a petition filed by the CBI, the SC on 31 August 2011 passed a judgement that restored the charges under Section 304-II against the accused.

The SC's rejection of the CBI's plea on Wednesday is perceived to be a major blow for the latter.