After 25 years of patient suffering, a court finally convicted seven officials of the erstwhile Union Carbide India Limited on charges of criminal negligence. The convicts were sentenced to two years of jail.
Among those guilty were leading industrialist Keshub Mahindra, Vijay Gokhale, J Mukund, S P Chaudhary, K V Shetty, Kishore Kamdar and S I Quereshee. The eigth convict R B Chaudhary died during the course of the trial.
The prime convict, Warren Anderson, former Chairman of the Union Carbide Corp. has been declared as absconding.
All the seven convicts have been granted bail.
But considering the case from the point of view of justice to the victims, the immense loss of life and health, and a wasteful wait of 25 years justified by a mere sentence of 25 years?
Dow Chemicals which took over Union Carbide has issued statement on the Bhopal gas verdict, "By requirement of the Government of India, the Bhopal plant was detail designed, owned, operated and managed on a day-to-day basis by Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) and its employees. All the appropriate people from UCIL - officers and those who actually ran the plant on a daily basis - have appeared to face charges. Union Carbide and its officials were not part of this case since the charges were divided long ago into a separate case. Furthermore, Union Carbide and its officials are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Indian court since they did not have any involvement in the operation of the plant, which was owned and operated by UCIL."