Quest For Justice In Bhopal Reaches American Soil

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The quest for justice in the Bhopal gas tragedy reached American shores Monday with Indian-American activists protesting in both Washington and New York.

In the nation’s capital, a group of Bhopal activists protested outside the Indian Embassy. The group carried placards and shouted slogans against the Dow Chemical Co. as well as Union Carbide Corp.

A 12-year-old boy in New York, Akash Vishwanath Mehta, tried to issue a summons for Warren Anderson, former chief of Union Carbide, at the office of the company’s law firm.

Standing outside the Park Avenue skyscraper with his 15-year-old brother Gautama, Mehta said, “Today, we are here to appeal to Warren Anderson and summon him to the Indian court where he has been charged with culpable homicide, which is the equivalent of manslaughter in America.”

Both boys were asked to vacate the premises by the building owners. The media was also not allowed on the property.

Mehta had with him the 1992 summons, plus a criminal chargesheet, which he requested be delivered to the legal offices of Kelly, Drye and Warren, legal representatives of Union Carbide. The building representative refused to comply with the boy’s request and asked them to come with an appointment.

Mehta’s protest was organized by ICJB and Kids for a Better Future. Its objective was to remind the authorities, both in India and America, that Anderson was still absconding and he needed to respond to the charges against him.

In a message to Anderson, Mehta read out, “Twenty-five years ago, Warren Anderson escaped arrest and his day in court. I would like today to appear to Warren Anderson’s conscience, his guilt and his grief and ask him to stand beside me. If he is truly haunted by the disaster that happened on his watch, which destroyed an entire community, I ask him to come forward and make a moral statement about what the right is for DOW and Union Carbide to do.”

The activists in Washington pleaded for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to make efforts to bring justice to the victims of the Bhopal disaster as well as get Anderson extradited to India.

The protestors were also critical of the recent court decision in this case, where seven former managers at the Bhopal plant were convicted and sentenced to two years of imprisonment each but let out on a meager bail immediate thereafter. The demonstration was staged in front of the Gandhi statue outside the embassy.

A memorandum under the name of “International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal,” (ICJB) was submitted to the PM through the Indian Embassy. The memo also requested Singh set up an Empowered Commission on Bhopal to rehabilitate the survivors.

The activists said Dow and Union Carbide should bear the expenditure incurred in clearing up the disaster site in Bhopal as well as rehabilitation of the survivors.

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