Five voluntary organisations working for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy survivors on Friday demanded that the Centre take concrete steps to ensure that American company Dow Chemical Co. appear before the Bhopal District Court.
Bhopal Group for Information and Action office-bearer Satinath Sharangi told the media here that the Dow Chemicals Company, which has acquired the Union Carbide, has been issued summons twice but it has not appeared before the court so far.
It would be evident on Saturday whether the Central Bureau of Investigation is able to ensure that the company presents itself before the court or not for the third time, he said.
Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogees Balkrishna Namdeo said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should direct the CBI to ensure that the company appears before the court
Meanwhile, Amnesty International India in a statement said the US chemical giant Dow must respond to court summons and show up on Saturday at the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s (CJM) court in Bhopal in relation to criminal charges around the 1984 Bhopal gas leak disaster.
“Dow must stop dodging the Indian justice system and ignoring survivors who have suffered from the toxic fallout of the disaster for over three decades now,” said Aruna Chandrasekhar, Business and Human Rights Officer at Amnesty International India.
Dow has ignored three previous, consecutive criminal court summons issued by the CJM since July 2013 for service on Dow in the US through official government channels.
“We hope that the Indian and US governments have done their part to ensure that Dow complies with an official Indian court order,” said Aruna Chandrasekhar.
The 1984 gas leak in Bhopal killed over 22,000 people and exposed over 570,000 to damaging levels of toxic gas. Thirty-one years later, it continues to blight lives and health in Bhopal.
In 2001, Dow acquired the UCC, the US-based multinational that was majority owner of the company that operated the Bhopal pesticide plant at the time of the leak. However, Dow Chemical has failed to respond to calls for justice and reparations from the victims and survivors of the disaster, while continuing to distance itself from the actions of UCC.