In the wake of outrage over failure to get former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson extradited to India, the government today asserted that the case against him in connection with the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 was not over and he could be procured and tried.
Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, however, refused to discuss the implications of the verdict on the Bhopal gas disaster case on the current debate over the civil nuclear liability Bill.
Detractors of the Bill fear it has no provisions for making foreign suppliers pay adequate compensation in case of disasters.
“Legally and technically, we can’t say it (the case against Anderson) is over. The case against him is still on...Suppose he can be obtained, he can still be tried,” Moily said.
He said the name of Anderson figured in the charge sheet filed by the CBI in the case.
“The investigation officer files charge sheet before the court. According to the criminal justice system, if the accused fails to appear before the court, they are entitled to declare the person a proclaimed offender...This is the case here also as he has been declared a proclaimed offender,” he said.
In 2003, a request for extradition of Anderson was made to the US under the India-US bilateral extradition treaty. This request has already been reiterated on more than one occasion, sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said today.
Greenpeace claims it informed CBI about Anderson’s whereabouts
Environment NGO Greenpeace has claimed that it had informed CBI about the whereabouts of Warren Anderson, the then chairman of Union Carbide Corporation who was declared an absconder in the Bhopal Gas tragedy case.
Nirmala Karunan, advisor (political estates) and public relation officer, Greenpeace, said an unknown person called and game them the whereabouts of Anderson during a photo exhibition in 2002 in America.
“On the basis of the information we had gone to his (Anderson) residence, but his wife told us that he was not at home. Later, we saw Anderson escaping from the back door of his house,” she said.
The Greenpeace activist claimed she shared this information with the US and Indian courts and CBI.
“All the information regarding the incident has been explained in detail on our website also,” she said.
