Eureka! That is what the committee of legal experts, appointed by the state government on 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy post-judgement, is likely to tell the Union government where its sole agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) failed to satisfy the victims of the worst ever industrial disaster in legal terms. The committee was formed on 9th of this month by state government.
If sources are believed, the committee has cracked some legal terms and has come out with a breakthrough that actual victims and the state government had hardly any chance to make their representation for justice at individual level as Union government and its agency CBI took the case in their hands for civil and criminal cases respectively for seeking justice
The committee members which met here today have reportedly studied a copious amount of documents and references to find the finer points in the case so that the punishment can be enhanced and the law can cast its net wide to bring the seven convicted persons under stringent sections like 304 of the Indian Penal code. The committee, a source said, is confident of narrating the procedure before the Centre, as how prime accused Warren Anderson can be extradited and brought to justice along with his two companies and also how a proper compensation to the victims can be claimed.
According to official information available with Business Standard, as many as 5,295 people died, though the number of compensation claim award received by the government was 15,342.
“There are legal points which CBI failed to raise before the court. It is not a simple negligence case of rash driving or single instance of deaths in one offense. People are dying even after 25 years of the tragedy and solely due to the lethal MIC affects. Few hundred people died on 2/3 December night. More died in the next few months, several others died in few years and people are yet suffering and dying. The experts have pointed out each death is a separate case of criminal negligence and in this case the punishment and fine of each death for each accused will be multiple in light of the magnitude of the crime under even similar sections,” a source who participated in the meeting told Business Standard.
The legal experts, according to the source, were of the opinion that CBI and Union government should have taken support of section 71 of Indian Penal Code which defines limit of punishment of offense made up of several offenses as a result each death caused due to poisonous gas leak attracts separate punishment of two years under section 304-A of IPC for each death.
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The committee will also discuss various points, legalities of the case tomorrow in Indore and will present its report before Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi on 19th of this month.
The members of the committee Vivek Tankha, RD Jain, Shanti Lal Lodha, principal secretary of legal department AK Mishra and ex-advocate general Anand Mohan Mathur, also sought suggestions from various NGOs.