Bhopal verdict too little, too late: Amnesty

An elderly victim holds a poster and waits for the verdict in the premises of Bhopal court in Bhopal, India, Monday, June 7, 2010. The court on Monday convicted seven former senior employees of Union Carbide's Indian subsidiary of "death by negligence" for their roles in the Bhopal gas tragedy that left an estimated 15,000 people dead more than a quarter century ago in the world's worst industrial disaster. (AP Photo/Prakash Hatvalne)

The international human rights group Amnesty International on Monday said the verdict on the Bhopal gas tragedy is “too little, too late“.

“These are historic convictions, but it is too little, too late. Twenty-five years is an unacceptable length of time for the survivors of the disaster and the families of the dead to have waited for a criminal trial to reach a conclusion,” Amnesty director of global issues Audrey Gaughran said in a statement.

Twenty-five years after the worst industrial disaster in world history which claimed over 15,000 lives, a Bhopal court on Monday convicted eight people including former Union Carbide India chairman Keshub Mahindra in the Bhopal Gas tragedy case.

The group also urged the Indian and U.S. governments to take the next step by bringing the U.S.-based Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) to justice. According to the statement, UCC and its former chairman Warren Anderson, who is absconding since the tragedy, were charged in 1987 but both refused to face trial.

“While the Indian employees have now been tried and convicted, the foreign accused has been able to evade justice simply by remaining abroad. This is totally unacceptable,” the Amnesty official said.