Fraud & Breach Of Trust

Amnesty International India

Promote Your Page Too

Now the almost-forgotten Bhopal gas tragedy is back in the headlines. For most readers, it is history recalled. But, for the Bhopal survivors, it is tragedy relived. A brief recount of the killer gas explosion first. The tragedy struck at the sleeping city past midnight on December 2-3, 1984. A valve defect had diverted a ton of water into a storage tank of the factory that contained some 42 tons of poisonous gas known as Mythl IsoCynate (MIC). This resulted in a huge chemical implosion raising the heat to 200 Celsius. That instantly opened the tank, and emptied the 42 tons of toxic gas that exploded into the atmosphere. MIC is a deadly poison. If the MIC particles exceed 21 out of a billion in the atmosphere, that can injure, even choke, the lungs and cause death. Imagine some 42,000 kilograms of this poison are let into the air in one shot. The MIC-concentrated area will turn into a mass graveyard. This is precisely what happened in Bhopal.

Some 3,800 people, mostly dwellers in nearby slums, instantly choked to death after inhaling the poison; the toll rose to 10,000 in the next few days; some 15,000-20,000, who had inhaled less intense poison, died miserable deaths on the next two decades; and, some 5,00,000 people, almost half the population of Bhopal then, who inhaled the toxic gas, are living an impaired life of different grades (See ‘Bhopal Disaster and its aftermath: a review’ by Edward Broughton of Columbia University, Environmental Health issue dated May 10, 2005). Many of those living are just breathing dead bodies. On December 3, the dead bodies of humans and animals in thousands were seen strewn on the streets. But what followed the untold tragedy was an unmitigated disaster to the victims. Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), a subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation US (UCC), was operating the Bhopal factory. But, UCC disowned its subsidiary once the tragedy occurred, contending that the Bhopal works was that of UCIL, an Indian company; it also ‘fabricated scenarios’ of ‘sabotage’ by ‘unknown Sikh extremist groups’ and ‘disgruntled employees’. In the process ‘the ethical implications of the tragedy and its effect on the Bhopal people were largely ignored’ in the litigations (Broughton). In March 1985 the Indian government, by law, declared itself as the sole trustee of the victims in legal proceedings anywhere. Eventually the US courts, where cases had been first filed, pointed the litigants to the Indian courts — ‘to the detriment’ of the victims (Broughton).

As the sole trustee representing toxic gas victims, the government had first made a claim of $3.3 billion on UCC. The UCC counter-offered about a tenth of it, $350 millions. Suddenly, on UCC owning ‘moral responsibility’ for the tragedy, the sole trustee-government shockingly agreed to an unbelievable, measly compensation of $470 million against its claim of $3.3 billion. The Supreme Court of India mediated this claim, a pittance. Not just a sixth of government’s claim, it was less than five per cent of what UCC itself paid to similar victims in US. The day the settlement was sealed by the Supreme Court, Ram Jethmalani, veteran jurist, said that there was large-scale corruption in the deal. He charged that the government, which forcibly became the sole trustee for the victims, was guilty of criminal breach of trust against the victims. This breach of trust is the worst crime in the continuing story of betrayal of the poor victims from the word go.

Its sad to know that the own government is misleading the poor victims , inspite of understanding their pain the government itself is playing the double game in the mask of justice.

*( For Amnesty International's Demand Dignity Campaign )