AN INDIAN court has convicted seven former employees of Union Carbide’s Indian subsidiary over the 1984 Bhopal gas leak that killed more than 20,000 people and poisoned tens of thousands of others.
They are the first convictions over the catastrophe that has come to be known as the chemical “Hiroshima”.
The former employees, many of them in their 70s, were sentenced to two years in prison and fined Rs100,000 (€1,776) each, but were released on bail soon after.
Union Carbide India – the subsidiary of the US-based multinational – no longer exists, but it too was convicted of the same charge of criminal negligence and ordered to pay a fine of Rs500,000 (€8,880).
All were held responsible for the seepage of some 40 tonnes of deadly methyl isocyanate out of Union Carbide’s plant in the heart of Bhopal shortly after midnight on December 3rd, 1984, poisoning between 8,000 and 10,000 people from surrounding slums within the first three days.
In 2004, Amnesty International placed the number who had died in the Bhopal gas leak incident at between 22,000 and 25,000.
Thousands of others, many of whom still lead wretched lives in slums adjoining walls of the dilapidated Carbide factory, still suffer effects of exposure to toxic fumes and extensive contamination of land and water, leading to birth defects and illnesses.
Former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson was also among the accused but was not named in the verdict after the Bhopal court declared him an “absconder”.
India has sought his extradition since the late 1980s, but successive US administrations have made no effort to find or book Anderson – now more than 90 years old – even though his whereabouts were revealed by Greenpeace and a British newspaper.
The verdict was received with resigned amazement by victims and rights activists.
“For 25 years we waited and now, after two hours this morning, these men have effectively been set free,” said Savitiri Mahe outside the Bhopal court, holding a picture of her daughter who died.
Others said justice had not only been delayed but also denied.
The Indian government, after initially demanding $3.3 billion (€2.76 billion) from Union Carbide – bought by Dow Chemicals in 1999 – agreed in 1989 to an out-of-court settlement of $470 million (€393 million) – a mere 15 per cent of the original amount.
To claim compensation, survivors had to prove that ailments such as kidney disorders, cancers and respiratory illnesses were actually caused by the chemical that belched from the plant.
In the early 1990s, survivors and families of victims were awarded compensation of Rs25,000 (€444) to fund, in most cases, a lifetime of hospital visits. Even this meagre amount never reached the majority of victims, soaked up by bribes paid to lawyers, middlemen and touts by largely illiterate victims to secure the money.
Activists from the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, an umbrella group of survivors’ organisations, estimate that some 100,000 people received an interim compensation of Rs200 rupees (€3.50) a month for a brief period after the disaster, but no final lump sum payment.
Many more received nothing at all – victims of red tape, corruption and civil servants who rejected claim forms because names had been misspelled.
India’s surprising and inexplicable settlement also absolved Union Carbide of any liability to clear up 350 tonnes of remaining toxic waste. Dow Chemical’s buyout of Union Carbide in 1999 also released it of all liabilities related to the 1984 leak.