32 yrs after gas tragedy, Bhopal court orders FIR on ex-collector, police chief

Special Correspondent

NewsBits.in

Bhopal: As many as 32 years after the Bhopal gas disaster, the district court on Saturday ordered registration of criminal case against the erstwhile collector and superintendent of police (SP) for helping the escape of main accused of tragedy – Warren Anderson – the then chairman of Union Carbide Corporation.

The court of the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) took strict view of the role of the two ex-officers and noted in the order that ‘they were busy using their intelligence and system at disposal to help a criminal escape, rather than helping the victims (of gas tragedy).’

CJM Bhu Bhaskar Yadav ordered registration of case against ex-collector Moti Singh and SP Swaraj Puri under sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) pertaining to harbouring of criminal/s (212), public servant disobeying direction of law to save person from punishment (217) and intentional omission by public servant to apprehend (221).

The court ordered that summons be issued to Singh and Puri, both retired now, and their personal appearance in court on December 8, the next date of hearing. Puri had risen to rank of director general of police (DGP) of Madhya Pradesh before retirement.

The crucial order of Bhopal CJM came while hearing a petition of gas tragedy survivors’ activists Abdul Jabbar and Shahnawaz Khan.

The activists had through their petition demanded criminal action against the two erstwhile officers for their alleged role in allowing escape of Warren Anderson. Anderson died in September 2014, but even before that he never appeared before any Indian court despite being named as main accused in the Bhopal gas tragedy criminal case.

The petitioners had argued before court that by their own admission (TV interviews after Bhopal gas tragedy judgment of June 7, 2010 and a book by Moti Singh – Bhopal Gas Trasadi ka Such) the ex-officers had almost forced Anderson to post bail after his arrest on December 7, 1984 upon his (Anderson’s) arrival in Bhopal in wake of the disaster four days ago (December 2/3, 1984).

Also Singh and Puri personally escorted Anderson to Bhopal Airport to help him leave Bhopal and consequently the country, the petitioners said and the court observed.

The court also observed that the Anderson was given bail and allowed to leave without approval of court, despite being booked under non-bailable section (IPC 304 - culpable homicide not amounting to murder).  

Anderson never returned to face law in the massive tragedy that killed over 15,000 and maimed over 5 lakh for life. He had been declared an absconder by Bhopal CJM court, carried a non-bailable warrant till he died in USA two years ago.

Activist Abdul Jabbar welcomed the order of the court and said that finally the officers who failed the Bhopal gas victims would face the law for their offence.

“They had helped a criminal escape and therefore he (Anderson) could not be punished for such a major offence. We are now hopeful that role of the politicians behind this criminal act would come to the fore and bring some closure to survivors,” Jabbar said while talking to NewsBits.in.