Opinion Never too late
Making reparation for the Bhopal gas tragedy calls for a humane approach
The Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 has been compounded by miscarriage of justice,lack of accountability,utter failure of corporate responsibility and,above all,a pittance of relief given by Union Carbide. It demands a humane response now,because the issue is still alive.
In all accidents resulting from human failure or vagaries of nature either on roads,railway tracks or the waterways,the states routine response is to grant ex-gratia monetary relief to the living and the dead. The spontaneity of response in such situations can minimise their suffering,but not mitigate it altogether. In the case of the Bhopal tragedy,too,the initial response was similar. Ex-gratia payment of Rs. 1500 to families having monthly income of Rs. 500 or less was sanctioned. Widow-pension of Rs. 200 (later Rs. 750) was provided,among other relief measures which,considering the enormity of the catastrophe,were all too insufficient. There were complaints of mismanagement in registration and distribution of relief.
Prosecuting the guilty and fixing accountability is always assigned to courts,administrative probes,commissions of enquiry etc.,which have a life of their own. Human suffering is prolonged,truth suffers and the public is brutalised.
The criminal justice system has been found wanting on all accounts. The charge-sheeted persons have been let off with punishment which is far too lenient. And the out-of-court settlement of monetary compensation of 470 million dollars given to the lakhs of victims and their families with an inhibiting clause against any appeal is like giving alms to the beggars that the Bhopal gas victims have been reduced to.
The provision of speedy justice is an obligation cast on the state. The Supreme Court in its judgment in the Best Bakery Case has dwelt upon the concept of fair trial saying the concept entails the familiar triangulation of interests of the accused,the victim and society…It will not be correct to say it is only the accused who must be fairly dealt with. That would be turning a Nelsons eye to the needs of the society at large and victims,their families and relatives.
The jurists must find answers to why the court was not allowed to conduct a trial on the charges framed by it on the basis of CBI report; why the trial court could not invoke section 357 of the CrPC.,especially,when the gravity of the charge had been toned down only to section 304(A) IPC. Section 357(b) of CrPC empowers the court to order: (b) the payment to any person of compensation for any loss or injury caused by the offence,when compensation is,in the opinion of the court,recoverable by such person in a civil court;And,finally,will this violation lead us to despairingly question whether CrPC,IPC and Indian Evidence Act are,indeed,capable of delivering justice when it comes to the destruction of the lives and properties of the poor workers by those who are entrusted with their protection?
In his book It was Five Past Midnight in Bhopal,Dominique Lapierre has written about Carbides past: Carbide was to find itself condemned to heavy fines for having poured highly carcinogenic products into the Kanawha and the atmosphere. An enquiry conducted in the Seventies was to reveal that the number of cancers diagnosed in the occupants of the valley was twenty-one per cent higher than the American national average. The incidences of cancer of the lung and endocrine glands,and leukaemia in particular,were among the highest in the country. But Union Carbide learnt no lesson from this indictment. Driven by considerations of productivity and profiteering,Carbide did not care that a chemical meant to exterminate a wide range of parasites for protection and safety of human beings would kill the very poor workers who were helping them to produce it. The nation would have been saved the Bhopal tragedy if their past had served any guide.
The current debates in the media and public have brought into sharp focus three most important issues failure of the justice delivery system,failure of corporate responsibility and inadequacy of monetary relief. The criminal justice system can still be reactivated,and shaken out of its sluggishness of the last 26 years. No corporate entity should be allowed to conduct its business without having in place a written undertaking of social responsibility. An act of Parliament can be the only means to ensure this. In Albert Einsteins words,quoted by Lapierre: Concern for man himself and his safety must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavours. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations. India has a Parliament capable of rectifying all wrongs judicial,legislative and executive even belatedly. No other institution expresses the peoples will more eloquently. Today the will of the people is all too palpable: to augment relief to the victims of Bhopal.
The worth of human life can never be measured in terms of money. Union Carbide has definitely failed in its corporate responsibility when it agreed to give compensation of a sum of just 470 million dollars. Now it is for state to consider whether,by a resolution of Parliament,liberal compensation in Indias own currency can be given to survivors. It is worth recalling that the government of Belarus spent 20 per cent of its national budget on alleviating suffering caused by the Chernobyl accident. Today our government is well endowed to take such an extraordinary decision. And to add to that,a willing nation will not grudge any contribution like the education cess that is now being charged from partners in the national effort to alleviate the suffering of Bhopal.
We live in an age of human rights and right to information. Giving a life of dignity to the survivors should push all our deliberation. There is a strong case to exercise the right to information to expose those responsible for Bhopal tragedy. Relief should flow abundantly. This,perhaps,is the only way left now to atone for what could not be done in the past. It is late,no doubt. But,as the saying goes,it is never too late.
The writer is member,National Human Rights Commission
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