Was the law taken in one’s hand? The answer is ‘yes’. Otherwise, why did the Central government exercise the power of parens patriae (parent of the nation) and prevent the victims from filing suits through lawyers of their choice? The government also passed the Bhopal Gas Disaster (Processing of Claims) Act, 1985, without consulting the victims or caring for their well-being and took away the victim’s right to fend for themselves. Within seven days of the tragedy, tort-lawyers from the USA flocked to Bhopal to strike deals with the victims. American tort lawyers are the most aggressive breed of the legal profession who secure settlements for huge sums.

Taking advantage of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s lack of experience and naivety, he was persuaded to exercise the power of parens patriae. And what did the Central government do next? It lodged a suit in a New York District Court claiming $3 billion compensation for the victims. Knowing the power of American tort lawyers, who are known to be experts in handling such cases in American courts, UCC, aided and abetted by our Central government, succeeded in transferring the case to an Indian court. What happened five days after the MIC leak was a drama which naïve citizens of India witnessed. Warren Anderson, Chairman of UCC, reached Bhopal on 7 December 1984.

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The MP government, headed by Chief Minister Arjun Singh, presumably with a view to scoring political advantage, spread the news that Anderson had been arrested and subsequently granted bail. The American embassy used its muscle to ensure the safe return of Anderson to New Delhi with due ceremony. He was entertained to tea by the first citizen and received with courtesy by the Union Home Minister, Foreign Secretary and other Ministers. Finally, all went to see him off to his home country.

On 14 February 1989, the Central government agreed with the Supreme Co urt’s judgement that UCC was to pay only $470 million as compensation. The parens patriae agreed to settle for about 15 per cent of the original claim. The amount is less than half of the amount settled by the US government for the Action Valdage incident, an oil disaster that took place in 1989 off the shore of Alaska. There are reasons to believe the comment of one of the lawyers of UCC, “A few hundred bottles of champagne must have popped around the world.” After all, UCC took away $2530 millions from Bhopal gas victims. Many facts relating to the industrial disaster were not made public after many years of the tragedy.

But if such truths had been unveiled earlier, people’s outrage and fury would have yielded justice for the victims. The epic tragedy of Bhopal had shaken people all over the world and they raised their voices and expressed their concerns from time to time by unveiling the harsh reality. Many social activists, artists, novelists, writers and producers brought out the facts through their creations, writings and spoke against the injustice to the Bhopal victims. Many film makers turned the spotlight and camera to capture the sufferings of Bhopal victims and tried to present the story of painful story. One feature film and eighteen documentaries were made on the Bhopal tragedy with an aim to make people visualize the sufferings and harsh realities, but most of them were not made public by the government. A documentary film entitled ‘Beyond genocide’ had directly accused the government, holding it as responsible as UCIL for the disaster and its fate.

Doordarshan refused to telecast this film and finally, after it had won the international award and gold medal, it was telecast suddenly late at night without any prior announcement. Pictures of suffering have hardly changed for the people of Bhopal. The deadly toxic clouds of methyl oxide that loomed over Bhopal 40 years back still cast a shadow on the lives of victims. Standing near the factory site of UCIL, one can only see pictures of misery and disability all over. Mothers still give births to deformed and crippled children. The poisonous garbage that has not yet been removed from the disaster site continuously pollutes the environment.

The place where the victims were shifted is an unhygienic place; there is no access to pure drinking water. Here, one finds toddlers and grown up children who cannot stand on their own legs, some cannot walk due to their crippled legs, some of them have visibility in one eye and most are barred from natural growth. Those who survived after inhaling the poisonous gas are mostly affected by cancer; some of them have been paralysed. The chemical deposited in more than a 20 square kilometer-area near the factory site is still polluting the underground water, causing cancer and physical deformity. After the 7 June 2010 verdict of the Bhopal district court, the matter remained the flavour of the day on TV channels and in print media.

Now that the media frenzy is over, it is the appropriate time for all of us to look at some basic issues, including corporate responsibility, the role of the business community, the government system, at state and central level, and finally the judicial system. Intellectuals and youth should not forget what happened at Bhopal. They should step forward and encourage the people to rise against power and make them realize that their unity and strength are mightier than the wealth of the cowards who absconded after committing the crime. Forty years of fighting for the right to life, dignity and justice shows the perseverance and courage of Bhopal victims.

The patience of the people of India is legendary, as for the past forty years, they have dreamt of a tomorrow which will give them justice. But justice is denied to them. Now, even after they have abandoned all hope for real justice, they still dream of a day when at least one member of Warren Anderson’s family will visit them and express his regret for the tragic incident.

(The writer is Director & CEO, Sayantan Consultants Private Limited)