In a big boost for the Bhopal gas tragedy survivors, US-based The Dow Chemical Company (TDCC), is likely to appear in Bhopal district court on Tuesday to face the charges in gas tragedy criminal case for the first time, 36 years after the CBI filed FIR in the case.
TDCC is the current owner of the Union Carbide Company (UCC) that was originally named in the FIR in 1987 and slapped with charges of culpable homicide. The UCC was declared fugitive from law by the Bhopal district court in 1992. TDCC took over the UCC in 2001 and legally declared its successor-in-interest.
Toxic methyl iso-cyanate gas had leaked from the fertilizer plant of UCC in Bhopal on night intervening December 2/3, killing thousands and maiming lakhs for life. The Bhopal gas tragedy is considered the biggest industrial tragedy in the world history, but no one has been punished for it. This will be likely the first time that a foreign accused will appear to face charges in the case lingering for over three decades.
Sources said that there are confirmed reports of the United States Department of Justice having served Bhopal court summons upon Amy Wilson, the corporate secretary and authorised representative of TDCC.
The development comes soon after 12 US Congress members wrote to the Department of Justice in September first week, to follow the legal provisions and serve Bhopal Court summons on Dow Chemical.
The first notice to Dow Chemical, as successor-in-interest of UCC, had been served in year 2005, but the company managed a stay that was vacated by Madhya Pradesh High Court only in 2012.
As many as seven summons for appearance of TDCC-USA were then issued between November 2014 to March 2023 by the Bhopal court. These notices were issued under the guidelines outlined by the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs regarding service of summons/notices/judicial process on the persons residing abroad. These guidelines follow from the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty signed between India and US in 2009. However, six earlier summons from 2014-2020 were ignored by the US Department of Justice and were never served to TDCC-USA.
On March 11, 2023, the seventh summons was issued to the authorised representative of TDCC-USA; Amy Wilson by the Bhopal district court seeking her appearance on October 3 this year.
Survivors' organizations express happiness
At a press conference on Monday, four organisations of the survivors expressed happiness over the development. They demanded that the CBI ensure speedy prosecution of the US corporation, that owns Union Carbide, for exemplary punishment (for sheltering a fugitive from justice for the last 22 years since taking over UCC in 2001).
The likely appearance of TDCC-USA at the Bhopal district court is a long awaited consequence of the application filed by the Bhopal Group for Information & Action (BGIA) in February 2004 in the role of assisting the prosecution in the criminal case related to Bhopal Gas Disaster, they said.
They also said it was better that the authorised representative of Dow Chemical and not Union Carbide will be appearing tomorrow. "Carbide has sold its assets in India but Dow Chemical holds substantial assets in this country. The crimes of Bhopal are that of criminal negligence towards the lives and health of human beings for maximization of profits. In essence Bhopal symbolises the corporate crimes of both industrial pollution and climate change. They are the leading causes of death and illness worldwide. The CBI must know that the whole world will be watching the criminal case on the disaster from now on," they said.
Rashida Bee of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, Balkrishna Namdeo, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha, Nawab Khan of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha and Nousheen Khan of the Children were present at the conference.