Bhopal: The "very worst" of American and Indian cultures caused the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984, said the court which on Monday convicted seven persons for criminal negligence.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohan P Tiwari said US chemical firm Union Carbide, which owned the leaking plant, used a third world country to escape the strict safety standards it faced in America.
"The tragedy was caused by the synergy of the very worst of American and Indian cultures. An American corporation cynically used a third world country to escape from the increasingly strict safety standards imposed at home," said Tiwari in his judgment, which PTI accessed on Wednesday.
"Safety procedures were minimal and neither the American owners or the local management seemed to regard them as necessary.”
There was no disaster plan that could be set into action when the deadly methyl isocyanate gas started leaking from the plant. "Prompt actions by the local authorities could have saved many, if not most of the victims," said Tiwari, adding the immediate response was marked by callous indifference.
The judge said Union Carbide should have taken precautions when it was dealing with such lethal chemicals. "It was the burden of local government also to play its supervisory and regulatory role with the utmost sincerity. However, both UCIL and government utterly failed in doing so."
Tiwari convicted former Union Carbide India chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others and sentenced them to two years imprisonment nearly 26 years after world's worst industrial disaster left over 15,000 dead.
The seven convicts secured bail shortly after the verdict was delivered.
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