Five Bhopal-based organisations active on the issue of ongoing toxic contamination in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, on Saturday condemned the recent decision of the US Federal court that dismissed an appeal filed by a group of plaintiffs last year.
The organisations said that the decision of the Appellate court was a gross miscarriage of justice as it deliberately ignored the documentary evidence presented in court in the last nine years and that they would now persuade the Indian Govern-ment, owner of the contaminated lands, to intervene in the case pending before US court.
Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that internal corporate documents presented before the three Appellate court- unambiguously demonstrates that UC Corporation, USA, and not its Indian subsidiary, had designed the waste disposal system in the Bhopal plant as well as supervised its operation and monitored the harmful consequences of the hazardous design. She alleged that the judges turned a blind eye to the facts on record simply in order to avoid making American corporations accountable for crimes committed outside the US.
Nawab Khan, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha said that the original case seeking clean up of the contamination by the US corporation and its former chairman remained within the New York court system and lawyers representing Bhopali plaintiffs were ‘exploring all options’ to continue the legal fight.
Balkrishna Namdeo, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha pointed out that the U.S. judges have clarified that the decision to absolve the parent corporation, a majority partner in the Indian subsidiary, could not be cited as a precedent for other cases. “That is the best illustration of how unsure the judges themselves are about the legal validity of their decision.” he said.