BGT Trial Tragedy- 26 years and counting!

The night of 2nd Dec, 1984 was one of the most disastrous night in the history of mankind, for reasons more than one. Bhopal Gas Tragedy(BGT) killed thousands, and injured lakhs. Who knew that night that another tragedy was brewing, one that will go on of over quarter of a century and still not end.

The District Court of Bhopal yesterday convicted eight accused in the case, including Mahindra top shot Keshub Mahindra. Not surprisingly, all the accused were bailed out within 2 hours. The case began in December 1987 after the CBI filed a chargesheet in court. Since then, 20 CJMs heard the case. There were 256 hearings in all. The government ridiculously accepted compensation from Union Carbide and distributed them in a more ridiculous way, pocketing more than distributing.

The Bhopal Gas Catastrophe is a perfect example of how not truth, but the rich and influential prevail. How delayed justice is denied justice. How money cannot replace lost lives. How liability has different meanings for India and the U.S. (while British Petroleum is being charged for a blown up Oil rig in Gulf of Mexico, its liability upto $1.5 billion for killing 11 workers, thousands of victims and their families of BGT got a meager $470 million!)

A case takes 15 years on an average to be disposed off, in a country with 3 million pending cases. Perhaps its all cliche, to the point that the top officials have stopped paying any heed to them. However, i still have faith in the judicial system of India. I truly believe that this will be an isolated case. I hope that the new era of efficient but quick disposal of cases, beginning with the Kasab trial, will shove in fresh air into the torn out judicial system of the country. Till then, fingers crossed!