Ex-CJI’s defence of ’96 order causes stir
NGOs working for the cause of the gas victims here have reacted sharply to the former Chief Justice of India A.H. Ahmadi’s widely reported statement that it was a “correct decision” of the Supreme Court bench headed by him in 1996 which converted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charge under the stringent provisions of 304-II
that provided for maximum of 10 years imprisonment to section 304-A of IPC with maximum imprisonment of two years in the criminal case linked with the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster.
Satinath Sarangi of Bhopal Group for Information and Action and Sambhavna Trust said that Justice Ahmadi’s judgment clearly shows that he paid no attention to evidence brought against the then chairman of Union Carbide India Limited, Keshub Mahindra, and other accused and this evidence proves that they knew about the potential hazard of the Union Carbide pesticide plant, the findings of the safety auditors in 1982 and the design modifications that made the factory even more hazardous. He further said that there was an attempt by government of India to see that the charge against Anderson is also diluted.
Talking to this newspaper, Abdul Jabbar Khan, who heads the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan, questioned the former CJI’s assertion that the “decision was correct” as no one had come forward to seek a review of the top court decision and said that the victims’ groups had approached CBI requesting for a review but since the CBI failed to do so, the Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahyog Samiti had filed a review petition in the court on Nov. 29, 1996.
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