The Supreme Court has reopened the Bhopal gas leak disaster case today after a curative petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), seeking harsher punishments for the accused after convictions in June resulted in a two-year suspended jail sentence for those responsible.
The CBI was seeking to restore a charge of culpabale homicide against the defendants, which include former Union Carbide India chairman Keshub Mahindra, according to news reports. The offence carries a maximum jail term of 10 years.
Chief Justice SH Kapadia headed the bench that sought a response from the defendants on the curative petition, which challenges a Supreme Court judgment from September 1996 that diluted the offence to death by negligence under section 304A of the Indian Penal Code, which carries a maximum of two years imprisonment.
The CBI submitted that the accused had knowledge with regard to the consequences of their act and should be prosecuted under culpable homicide.
The Indian Express reported today that the CBI petitioned that the “apex court should invoke its inherent power in public interest to address and remedy errors apparent on the face of record in the judgement and order of September 13, 1996”. The 1996 decision had suffered from serious errors as the charges under Section 304 Part II of the IPC were quashed without considering the prosecution’s material, said the CBI.
"This curative petition is an attempt by the state to set right this gross miscarriage and perpetuation of irremediable injustice being suffered by the victims in particular, the society at large, and the nation as a whole," the CBI according to reports.
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Somebody correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't it upon the advise given by a senior advocate that the cases were tried in India and withdrawn from the US courts.
Had the case been tried in the US, India could have had the chance to get a greater penalty imposed upon Union carbide (US tort laws are much refined).
What will be achieved now by nailing getting small fry like Keshub Mahindra? Even if, they convict the 6 or 7 gentlemen promptly, whether it will be justice?
The Bhopal case is a systemic failure of the legal institution in our country. Personal agendas of judges rule the day. Almost all judges (with the exception of a handful like Justice Khanna (Raj Narain case), or Justice Shah(homosexuality case)), speak in the language of the government in power because they want to become the heads of a commission/arbitrators.
It is high time we start to see the elephant in the room. Otherwise, whatever remaining faith the population has in the judiciary, that too will be wiped out.
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