Bhopal gas tragedy: Survivors' groups slam SC's dismissal of plea for more compensation

Bhopal gas tragedy: Protesters holding Pablo Bartholomew's photo of a child being buried which became a symbol for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy. (Image Credit: Shutterstock)

Five organisations representing the victims of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy issued a joint statement on March 14 condemning the Supreme Court's dismissal of the Union Government's Curative Petition seeking additional compensation for the victims of the disaster.

The press release notes that the organisations will continue to fight for justice in Bhopal until all survivors are adequately compensated.

The Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karmchari Sangh's President, Rashida Bee, stated that the victims were denied their day in court due to the pro-corporate bias of the Supreme Court bench. She also noted that the counsel for Union Carbide was given more time to speak than the counsel for the survivors' organisations.

Rachna Dhingra from the Bhopal Group for Information & Action condemned the Supreme Court for deliberately ignoring arguments and facts presented by the survivors' organisations. The organisations presented official figures of injury and death analyzed by an international expert on epidemiology that proved the 1989 settlement was a miscarriage of justice, but the Supreme Court bench chose to ignore them.

Nawab Khan, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, stated that they refuse to accept the injustice delivered by the Supreme Court and will continue their fight for justice.

A Constitution Bench of the SC dismissed the Union government's curative petition seeking additional compensation for the victims of the Bhopal Gas tragedy on March 14. The Union government had sought a direction against Union Carbide (now Dow Chemicals) to pay Rs 7,844 crore additional amount over and above the earlier settlement amount of USD 470 million for paying compensation to the gas tragedy victims.

Over 3,000 people had died in the tragedy due to the release of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas on December 2-3, 1984, and over 1.02 lakh more people were affected.