The decision not to press for the extradition of the then chairman of Union Carbide Corporation, Mr Warren Anderson, wanted for trial in the criminal case arising out of the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster, was taken at a core group meeting of the government of India in early 1995.
The operative part of a noting on a secret ministry of external affairs (CRV division) document regarding the warrant of arrest against Mr Anderson said that “the issue (Mr Anderson’s extradition) has international and domestic implications. Both political and economic implication for Indo-US relations are self-evident. It has been categorically stated that the US courts will not certify that there is a prima facie case for extradition and indicated that the US government will not agree”.
This stand was taken by the MEA after the Cabinet Secretariat, which was seized of the matter, convened a high-level meeting in a room in Rashtrapati Bhavan on February 9, 1995 to discuss the sensitive issue of Mr Anderson’s extradition. Those who attended the deliberations and supported the idea that in view of Indo-US relations it will not be advisable to press for Mr Anderson’s extradition included the then Cabinet Secretary, A.N. Verma, chemicals and petroleum secretary K.K. Mathur; secretary (finance) K. Srinivasan, home secretary K. Padmanabhaiah, secretary, legal affairs, P.C. Rao, and the then CBI director, K. Vijayramarao.
After the Bhopal chief judicial magistrate gave the judgment on Monday sentencing the Indian accused in the Union Carbide criminal case, former CBI joint director B.R. Lall went on record and told the media that the CBI had been told by the MEA not to pursue Mr Anderson’s extradition. Mr Lall’s claim has been rejected by the then CBI director, Mr Vijayramarao, who was part of the GOI core group that took a stand against Mr Anderson’s extradition.
Mr Anderson is the first accused in the 1984 gas disaster criminal case which seeks to punish those responsible for the deaths of more than 20,000 residents of Bhopal and causing grave injuries to hundreds of thousands of survivors. He was arrested along with Mr Keshub Mahindra and Mr Vijay Gokhale, the then chairman and managing director of Union Carbide India Ltd, when they arrived in Bhopal soon after the gas disaster on December 7, 1984. Cases under Sections 304-A, 426, 429, 278, 284 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code were registered against them and they were detained in the luxury of the Union Carbide guest house in Bhopal. After a few hours of detention, Mr Anderson was released on bail and flown to New Delhi in a state government aircraft.
Moti Singh, who was the Bhopal district collector at the time of the gas disaster, has made the revelation that he had been instructed by the then state chief secretary to complete the formality of releasing Mr Anderson on bail and ensure his quick passage to New Delhi by a state government plane. This happened when senior Congress leader Arjun Singh was chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. Former state home secretary K.S. Sharma has said there was no question of any movement of state government aircraft “under the circumstances” without the chief minister’s direct intervention.
The Union Carbide set-up in Bhopal had come as a boon for the political executive and bureaucracy in the state capital. Many lucrative jobs were given to the children of senior bureaucrats. It is common knowledge here that those who benefited included officers at the level of chief secretary and inspector-general of police. Major contracts were also given by the company to political bigwigs in the state and the Union Carbide guest house was a major centre for entertainment for the so-called “bigwigs”. It was in this backdrop that Mr Anderson was allowed to go scot-free.