New Delhi: It has been almost 40 years since the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy, but justice still eludes its victims. On Wednesday, 12 US Congressmen wrote to the US Department of Justice to ensure that Dow Chemical Company — the key accused in the tragedy — responds to India’s repeated summons to appear in court.
The letter — signed by Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Pramila Jayapal, and Congressman Frank Pallone Jr, among others — has asked that the Dow Inc. complies to the ‘show cause’ notice issued by India in compliance with the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty on Criminal Matters, 2001.
“The Department’s action is creating an indelible stain upon our nation’s reputation for upholding international legal and moral standards that must be corrected,” stated the letter which ThePrint has accessed.
This is the seventh such summons issued by India.
The industrial disaster had occurred in the December of 1984 when a leak from the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) pesticide plant in Bhopal had exposed thousands of people to toxic gas.
In 1992, UCC, a former Fortune 100 company in the US, was declared an “absconder” by Indian courts, along with its former CEO Warren Anderson. An extradition request to US authorities was pending at the time of Anderson’s death in 2014.
The letter added that UCC, which became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical (now Dow Inc.) following a merger in 2001, has stated on record that it rejects Indian jurisdiction and will therefore not attend the trial. After an Indian magistrate issued a ‘show cause notice’ in March this year, Dow’s court appearance has been scheduled for 3 October, 2023.
According to the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty on Criminal Matters, India must request US authorities to serve the summons on its behalf in the year 2023. All previous summons have gone unanswered by the US Department.
“It is encouraging to see some of the most influential voices in the US Congress calling for the US Department of Justice to act in accordance with the law and prevent their country’s reputation from being tarnished as a safe haven for criminal corporations,” said Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, in a statement.
Also read: Why the Centre should not pay Bhopal gas tragedy victims from its kitty
Justice pending in India, settled in US
While Dow has acknowledged responsibility for asbestos-related claims filed against UCC in the US prior to the merger, it refuses to be liable for UCC’s actions. When Dow settled a lawsuit on behalf of UCC on 9 January, 2002, its share price dropped by $7.16 billion according to a statement released by the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) Thursday. The ICJB is an organisation committed to the cause of holding the Indian Government and Dow Inc accountable for the ongoing chemical disaster in Bhopal.
The letter sent Wednesday stated that the Indian government’s actions relating to Bhopal, including the summons served to UCIL and Dow, are entirely lawful under the terms of the treaty and that none of the treaty’s exceptions credibly apply to the chemical disaster in Bhopal.
“The Department’s failure to fulfil India’s requests is a clear breach of American obligations under international law that you are required to uphold,” it further added.
A message for INDIA bloc
Organisations in Bhopal working for justice for the affected, hailed the step by the Congress members.
According to the statement released by the ICJB, while a 1989 civil settlement reached between India and UCC led to over 570,000 survivors being compensated, no victim was consulted. The subsequent claims process incorrectly identified 97 percent of all claimants as having only minor or temporary injuries.
A British Medical Journal report stated that an estimated 120,000 people are still chronically unwell as a result of the long-term repercussions of the gas tragedy and that survivors had a 28 percent higher death rate than the general population and were twice as likely to die of cancer, lung illness, and tuberculosis.
The ICJB release adds that an FIR has been filed against Dow under section 212 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) — which declares ‘harbouring a fugitive from justice’ a capital offence.
“This action by US legislators should serve as a lesson for our government’s departments that are aiding US corporations in remaining unpunished. Hopefully, it will be imitated by the current opposition leaders in our country,” said Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action.
Another campaigner, Nawab Khan, of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, urged the INDIA alliance to “include the provision of justice and a life of dignity for Bhopal survivors and their children and those poisoned through groundwater” in their agenda for Changing Bharat.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: SC dismisses Centre’s appeal for more compensation from Union Carbide for Bhopal gas victims