CBI files plea to upturn ’96 Bhopal order

NEW DELHI: The CBI on Monday made a delayed yet determined attempt not to allow the accused in the Bhopal gas leak case, the worst-ever industrial disaster that killed more than 10,000 people, to walk away with a two-year sentence.

The agency filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court, seeking to slap stringent charges under Section 304-II IPC against them.

The SC's September 13, 1996 judgment had diluted the charges from Section 304-II, which provides a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment, against the accused to that under Section 304A IPC, which at best entails a two-year jail term.

Twenty-six years after the tragedy, a Bhopal trial court on June 7 convicted all accused, including former chairman of Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) Keshub Mahindra, and awarded the maximum sentence under Section 304A, triggering an outrage and forcing the government to take corrective measures.

To counter any adverse argument based on the delay of 14 years in filing a curative petition, attorney-general G E Vahanvati has given a carefully worded certificate saying this petition needed to be entertained as it fell in the `rarest of rare' category where the apex court could correct a judgment that resulted from misreading of solid
evidence presented by CBI, showing culpability of the accused under Section 304-II.

The petition, drafted by advocate Devadatt Kamat, minced no words in describing the illogicality of the 1996 judgment and justified the state action, though delayed, in taking the corrective step.

"It is an attempt by the government to set right gross miscarriage and perpetuation of irremediable injustice being suffered by the victims in particular, the society at large and the nation as a whole," the CBI said.

It slammed the accused persons -- Keshub Mahindra, V P Gokhale, Kishore Kamdar, J Mukund, S P Chaudhary, K V Shetty, S I Quereshi and UCIL -- for deliberately ignoring the mechanical faults in the pipeline connecting the tanks storing the deadly methyl iso-cyanate that led to its leakage on the night of December 2-3, 1984, resulting in the death of thousands of people and injuries to over one lakh.

"The perpetrators behind the leakage of MIC gas from the UCIL plant should not be allowed to walk away with a minimal punishment of two years under Section 304A in one of the world's biggest industrial catastrophes, despite ample evidence to show the commission of an offence under Section 304-II of the IPC," the CBI said.

It said though a certain amount of compensation and rehabilitation had been done with the fund of $470 million provided by UCIL, it was not enough to get away with the minimal punishment.

"No amount of compensation or rehabilitation can substitute the loss of these innocent lives. The state is duty-bound to ensure that justice is done to these thousands of persons who lost their lives," the agency said, quoting Lois McMaster Bujold's book `Diplomatic Immunity' wherein he had said: "The dead cannot cry out for justice, it is the duty of the living to do so for them."

Terming the 1996 judgment as self-contradictory for it took note of all the grave evidence of the accused only to ignore them, the CBI said a deliberate omission on the part of the accused persons to rectify serious defects in the pipes linking the storage tanks was not a mere rash and negligent act. They had clear knowledge of the hazardous consequences of such a lapse, it said.

Because the plant was running in a loss, the management did not pay any heed to its maintenance and deliberately ignored the safety measures, the CBI alleged. "Monetary consideration was given preference over human lives," it said.

Citing the deposition of a witness, the agency said: "There was an extensive drive to reduce expenditures at the expense of safety measures in the UCIL plant at Bhopal. Where new pipes were required to be fitted, they compromised safety by continuing with the old pipes after welding."