New Delhi, Aug. 31: The Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to re-examine its own ruling 14 years ago on the Bhopal gas leak tragedy, and issued notices to the seven persons convicted in the case — including Mr Keshub Mahindra, who was chairman of Union Carbide India at the time of the tragedy — on a curative petition filed by the CBI.
A bench comprising Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices Altamas Kabir and R.V. Raveendran, sitting in chamber, issued the notices on the CBI’s plea to revive the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304B IPC, which carries a maximum jail sentence of 10 years. The CBI had sought reconsideration of the SC’s September 13, 1996, ruling which diluted criminal charges against the top brass of Union Carbide, including Mr Warren Anderson, its chairman at the time of the 1984 gas leak. Charges under Section 304B IPC had then been dropped, and a review petition also dismissed in 1997.
On June 8 this year, 26 years of the tragedy, a Bhopal court sentenced the seven held guilty in the case to two years’ imprisonment for criminal negligence, leading to a huge public outcry. In the curative petition, the CBI said the 1996 verdict suffered from serious errors as the charges under Section 304 Part 2 IPC against the accused were quashed by the court without consideration of the material placed by the prosecution. The CBI’s contention was that the 1996 order had led to a miscarriage of justice as over 15,000 people were killed on December 3, 1984.