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BHOPAL: Former Union Carbide India chairman Keshub Mahindra and four others convicted on June 7 in the Bhopal Gas leak case were today granted bail by a court here.

UCIL former Managing Director Vijay Gokhle, former Vice President Kishore Kamdar, former Works Manager J Mukund and former Production Manager S P Choudhry were others granted bail by Chief Judicial Magistrate R V Singh.


Former Plant Superintendent K V Shetty and former Operator S I Qureshi, who were also convicted, did not get bail today as they were not present in the court.

The convicts had filed an appeal in the sessions court against the June 7 verdict which had directed them to seek bail from Chief Judicial Magistrate.

They were sentenced under section 304 A, 336, 337 and 338 read with section 35 of the IPC under which each was awarded two years imprisonment and a fine of over Rs 1 lakh under different sections was imposed on them by CJM Mohan P Tiwari.

Meanwhile, talking to reporters outside the court, Mahindra said he wanted to do some work for the gas victims.

"I have been saying for last 20 years that it is my desire to do something concrete for the gas victims."

Mahindra said he did not accept the charges framed against him in the 1984 Bhopal gas leak case.

He said he had resigned from the membership of a business committee set up by the Prime Minister as he did not consider it proper to continue.
Read More at:timesofindia.indiatimes.com

As the blame game continues over the Bhopal gas tragedy verdict, the main question that arises is: Who is responsible for cleaning up the Bhopal gas disaster site?

Activists campaigning for the victims say the next stage is to make Dow Chemicals pay for cleaning up the toxic site. In 1999, Union Carbide Corp was bought by US-based Dow Chemicals.

Read full story at ndtv.com

Under both public and political pressure to take corrective action on the 26-year-old Bhopal gas tragedy case, the Congress Core Committee (CCC) on Friday decided that the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram will explore legal possibilities of reopening the case.

The core committee met at the Prime Minister’s residence to evaluate the fallout of the verdict. “The government is moving on the issue, the GoM will look to the legal issues to see whether the case can be re-opened,” said sources. The Government was under pressure to press for 91-year-old Anderson’s extradition from the US.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee, A K Antony, Chidambaram, Veerappa Moily and the party chief’s political secretary Ahmed Patel attended the CCC meeting.

The party’s top leadership also took a dim view of Digvijay Singh’s comment indicating the then Central government’s involvement in Anderson’s escape.
With then Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Arjun Singh refusing to break his silence on the conspiracy that led to Anderson’s virtual acquittal, a desperate Congress said that the party too would like to know the truth on which only Singh can shed light.
In other words, it would like the former CM to take the blame for Anderson escaping the trail.
As the present BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government threatened to steal the thunder by appointing a committee to look into the Anderson-escapade episode, it was time for the Congress to take a call on the political damage. “I categorically deny involvement of the Central government—(headed by Rajiv Gandhi),” Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said.

She raised doubts on PC Alexander’s (principal secretary to Rajiv Gandhi) remark that “the CM and the PM being in touch is nothing unusual”, and downplayed Digvijay Singh’s comment that possible US pressure could have been reason to let Anderson escape.

Source:- http://expressbuzz.com/nation/congress-wants-gom-to-reopen-bhopal-gas-case/180982.html