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Court concludes another round in Carbide hearing

By Our Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL, JULY 22. The court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate hearing the criminal case linked with the Union Carbide gas disaster of 1984 has concluded another round of examination of witnesses stretching over three days.

In the latest round of hearing, witnesses, including Army personnel, doctors and civilians deposed before the court. This was the first time that as many as 15 witnesses appeared in a single round of hearing stretching over three days.

The court had taken strong exception to the slow pace of examination of witnesses at its last hearing and asked the CBI to issue summons to all witnesses. In the process, 40 summons were issued. While 30 of them had responded, 15 witnesses finally appeared in court.

On the latest reports that the US had rejected India's demand for extradition of former Union Carbide Corporation chairman Warren Anderson, the CBI counsel, U.C. Sahay, told the court that the details of action taken for Mr. Anderson's extradition would be conveyed at the next hearing. He said the Government of India had written to the US Government on July 13 asking why the request for Mr. Anderson's extradition had been rejected. The court has fixed September 2 and 3 as the next dates for hearing.

The convener of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS), Abdul Jabbar, later told The Hindu that the technical hurdles had now been removed for sending a notice to Dow Chemicals asking why it should not be tried in the criminal case linked with the Carbide gas disaster.

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