New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today gave its nod to reopen the 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy case. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had sought a retrial to ensure that those accused in the world's worst industrial disaster ever did not walk away with a mere two-year sentence.
There will now be a fresh trial in the case and could lead to more stringent charges being slapped against the accused.
The CBI had asked the apex court to review its judgement of 1996 that had diluted charges against the accused from culpable homicide not amounting to murder to criminal negligence. This had led to lighter punishment for all the accused when, on June 7, 2010, a Bhopal court sentenced seven former Union Carbide executives, including former Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) Chairman Keshub Mahindra, to two years in jail. They were granted bail immediately.
The verdict had sparked nationwide outrage, leading to the government setting up a group of ministers and filing of a curative petition against the lighter punishment for those responsible for the gas tragedy.
The apex court had on August 31, 2010, decided to re-examine its own judgement that led to the lighter punishment.
In its plea, the CBI had sought restoration of the stringent charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder instead of death caused due to negligence against the accused. Close to 15,000 people have died since 1984, when a gas leak at the Carbide plant poisoned the Bhopal air on a December night.
Asking the court to reconsider its ruling, the CBI said, "The men behind one of the world's biggest industrial catastrophes should not walk away with a minimal punishment of two years despite ample evidence to show the commission of an offence of homicide."
A five-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice SH Kapadia heard the case on a day-to-day basis.
Besides Mahindra, Vijay Gokhale, the then Managing Director of UCIL, Kishore Kamdar, then Vice President, J N Mukund, then Works Manager, S P Choudhary, then Production Manager, K V Shetty, then Plant Superintendent and S I Quereshi, then Production Assistant were convicted and sentenced to two years' jail term by the trial court in Bhopal in June last year.