Judiciary let down gas victims: Moily

The Union law minister, Mr M. Veerappa Moily, on Saturday defended the Centre’s stand on the prosecution of the accused in the Bhopal gas tragedy and blamed the judiciary for delaying the case and letting former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson get away.

Mr Moily said the Supreme Court verdict had reduced the incident to a “car accident”.

Mr Moily was in fact referring to the statement of the then Chief Justice of India, Mr A.M. Ahmadi, who is blamed for diluting the charges in the case. Mr Ahmadi had said, “There is no concept of vicarious liability. If my driver is driving and meets with a fatal accident, I don’t become liable to be prosecuted under 304-II,” he said.

“The CBI had filed charges under (IPC) Section 304 (II) under which the maximum punishment is 10 years. But the highest court (headed by Mr Ahmadi), in a review petition, converted it to 304 (A) which is actually meant for a car accident, truck accident,” the law minister told reporters in Bengaluru.

Section 304 (II) of the IPC is culpable homicide not amounting to murder while 304(A) is causing death due to negligence.