Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 11 (IANS) Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily Wednesday said the government will abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Bhopal gas leak case, where it dismissed the CBI’s plea for more stringent punishment for then Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others accused in the tragedy.

“After this matter came up, the GoM (group of ministers) in its due wisdom decided to go for the curative petition. After obtaining the opinion from the learned Attorney General of India, we had filed the curative petition and the Supreme Court in its wisdom has dismissed it. We will abide by the decision,” Moily said.

The Union Carbide disaster, in which poisonous methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from its plant in Bhopal on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984, killed 3,000 people instantly and 25,000 over the years. It also affected 100,000 people and estimates are that more than 500,000 continue to suffer from ill-effects of the gas.

The apex court, by its 1996 verdict, had diluted the charges against the accused from Section 304 (A) of the Indian Penal Code — culpable homicide not amounting to murder, to that of Section 304 (II) — criminal negligence.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had moved the apex court, seeking a direction for framing charges against Mahindra and others for culpable homicide not amounting to murder that carries a maximum imprisonment of 10 years.

Under criminal negligence, the maximum punishment is just two years.

Delivering the judgment for a constitution bench, Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia said that after the 1996 verdict, the accused could not be tried under the stringent provisions of law without any basis.

The court said the 1996 judgment in no way shackled the trial court from framing the charges under the stringent provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.