The light punishment pronounced by a Bhopal court in the 1984 gas tragedy has stunned legal eagles, who demanded a complete overhaul of the law relating to death caused by rash and negligent acts. Unanimity among senior advocates - Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Mukul Rohatgi, Altaf Ahmed and additional solicitor general Vivek Tankha - was reflective of the restiveness among legal eagles.
But former CJI and NHRC chairperson K G Balakrishnan was sympathetic with the trial court when he said the verdict was based on law which tried to identify the intention of the culprits and not the resultant human tragedy. Singhvi looked for the root cause behind the verdict and said, "This exposes the deep malice of our legal system which took almost 26 years to even reach a verdict."
A furious Rohatgi compared the Bhopal deaths to gas chamber killing by Nazis. "It's a mockery of justice. Had such a disaster taken place in the US, the assets of the company would have been seized and the management would have been put behind bars," he said. ASG Vivek Tankha asked, "If the SC diluted the charges from Section 304-II to Section 304-
A, why did the government not seek a review. Why was it accepted as fait accompli?"
Senior advocate Altaf Ahmed, who had argued against dilution of charges before the SC in 1996, expressed disappointment and said, "The verdict is too little too late."
