Bhopal enraged over sentencing in gas tragedy case

A day after the Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohan P Tiwari delivered his judgement in the Bhopal Gas disaster case, the city continues to see the with anger at the sentences given to the accused.

The Bhopal gas disaster is said to be the worst of its kind in the history of industrial world and the accused in it were given a sentence, more than 25 years after it took place.

The Convenor of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangthan, Abdul Jabbar said that the gas victims had to contend with two tragedies in their lives.

"The first tragedy occurred when the lethal Methyl Iso Cyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the Union Carbide factory in December 1984 and the second took place when the judgement was delivered yesterday," Jabbar said.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate had yesterday sentenced seven of the eight accused to imprisonment of two years each and slapped a fine of Rs2 lakh each.

But less than two hours after the sentence was given, all the seven were granted bail and this rankles the people of Bhopal the most.

"It is really very said that the accused in the disaster have been let off with very mild sentences and they did not spend even a single night in jail," said Shamshad Bi, who herself is a victim of the disaster.

When the judgement was delivered yesterday, the accused were escorted to the court room while representatives of organisations working for gas victims were denied entry into it.

The representatives argued a number of times with police personnel on duty at the court room but all their efforts to go in went in vain.

There was also a minor scuffle in which police personnel jostled media persons and representatives of gas organisations.

Because of this, a number of gas victims were holding protests and shouting slogans in the court premises against Warren Anderson, the Chairman of Union Carbide Corporation at the time of the disaster, and others.

The judgement given yesterday does not mark the end of legal woes for the gas victims as it will be challenged in the sessions court.

From the sessions court, the matter will go to the High Court and later to the Supreme Court.

Although trial in these courts may not take as long as 25 years, no one is willing to make a guess on how long they will continue.