Slow-motion justice for Bhopal

Indeed, the Supreme Court itself underestimated the havoc by a factor of five while approving a 1989 settlement with Carbide. From 3,000 deaths, the toll has climbed to 15,310.

Equally, society itself seems to have recognised the colossal injustice visited upon Bhopal's victims. That's the meaning of a recent New York judgment ordering Dow Chemicals, Carbide's successor, to clean up the toxic residues in Bhopal at its expense.

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In reality, the Bhopalis have been re-victimised by UCC over the years through the poisoning of their water by the residues. They can now hope to get clean drinking water.

While this recognition is welcome, the latest judgement doesn't remotely meet the requirements of justice. Most victims will be paid paltry sums like Rs. 25,000 for a lifetime of suffering and disability. The worst-affected people, disabled by grave, irreversible health damage, will be denied even the minimum needed for medical treatment.

The roughly 30,000 victims who have sustained extremely severe damage, and deserve upwards of Rs. 2 lakhs in relief, will suffer a dilution of that sum. The Rs. 1,500 crores will be split among 5.5 lakhs in the 36 affected municipal wards of Bhopal.

The sum is what remains of the $470 million (originally equivalent to Rs. 710 crores) paid to the government by UCC, but withheld from the victims. Only half the original amount was disbursed earlier.

The sum's size explained by the three-fold depreciation of the rupee vis-à-vis the dollar and accumulated interest. The additional "compensation," then, only makes up for devaluation.

The $470 million represents one of the world's cheapest settlements of any toxics-exposure suit. It barely equals double the amount of Union Carbide's insurance cover.

Had a much less terrible accident occurred in the West, UCC would have been immediately bankrupted. Its directors would have been jailed. They'd face more severe punishment than, say, Enron's Kenneth Lay.

If UCC's victims have received some recompense, it's not because of the courts or governments, not because "the system works." The reason is their own heroic effort. Their struggle has been valiant. Its strong collective experience has empowered them and helped them recover their dignity and rise above victimhood.

Since 1984, I have personally witnessed how broken widows, children forced to become heads of their families at age 9, and all-but-crippled day-labourers, all turned into strong human beings and great activists.

This self-empowerment through struggle is the greatest achievement of the Bhopalis and their transformation from victims to victors.

Bhopal has experienced not one tragedy, but three. The first was the 1984 accident caused by flawed plant design and negligence. The second was the unjust out-of-court settlement with Carbide, after the victims were deprived of independent legal representation.

The third disaster was the way their claims were settled. Ninety-five percent received a disgraceful Rs. 15,000 for a lifetime of suffering. They were further humiliated by callous doctors and corrupt bureaucrats.

Families of the dead got just Rs. 1 lakh: even rail accident victims get more. Putting such a low value on human life speaks poorly of Indian society itself.

Institution after institution let down the Bhopalis. The government took over the litigation and ruined it. The US courts made matters worse. Indian courts couldn't handle the case on the basis of torts (civil wrongs, caused by negligence) -- because we had no tort law. The CBI failed to act on an arrest warrant for UCC chairman Warren Anderson, issued in 1992!

The Supreme Court itself let the victims down by approving the $470-million settlement in return for extinguishing Carbide's civil and criminal liability.

Two years later, under the V.P. Singh government, criminal liability was restored. But the Indian embassy in Washington still failed to serve the warrant on Anderson because, it claimed, he couldn't be located. This, when Greenpeace published his address!!

The Centre put the Madhya Pradesh government in charge of relief despite its appalling record of callousness, incompetence and corruption. The Indian Council of Medical Research failed to suggest a rational line of treatment for the victims' disorders, including immune system damage.

Bhopal's elite has been hostile to the gas-affected. BJP leaders Uma Bharati and Babulal Gaur demand that they should share the compensation with the well-off unaffected wards!

In 2002, another challenge emerged: collusion between the Indian and United States governments to dilute criminal charges filed against Carbide's officials. The Ministry of External Affairs asked the CBI to amend the charges against Anderson from culpable homicide not amounting to murder (304-II of IPC) to "a rash and negligent act" (304A), which carries 2 years' imprisonment.

The Bhopal victims -- killed or scarred for life for no fault of theirs -- were again asked to sacrifice their rights for Indo-US "strategic partnership," "investor confidence," "market sentiment," etc.

The Bhopalis beat back the challenge. They are clear: they might never receive adequate compensation. But the world shouldn't forget that a multinational corporation which was abysmally negligent in plant design and operation, caused their grievous suffering. Its officials must not be let off. The victims must know who heaped injury, injustice, and ignominy upon them.

That struggle for full justice still lies ahead. But what the victims have achieved is significant. They never allowed themselves to be browbeaten by the worst adversity. Their spirit is indomitable.

Their organisations have succeeded where most NGOs fail: preserving unity. The latest litigation was initiated by 36 individuals, each representing a gas-affected ward, cutting across different organisations.

The Bhopalis' struggle hasn't ended. But it will continue to inspire millions -- and remind us of how far we have to go to create a safer world. Bhopal's example will energise many struggles against tyranny.

Praful Bidwai is an eminent Indian columnist.