The United States said on Saturday that it would “carefully evaluate” any request from India to bring to justice Warren Anderson, former CEO of Union Carbide Corporation, wanted in the Bhopal gas leak case.
“...if the government of India makes such a request…, we will carefully evaluate it,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters, in response to a question.
Mr. Crowley, however, reiterated that he would not make any comment on a request for Mr. Anderson's extradition by the Indian government, arguing that all such issues were confidential. “I'm not in position to verify … whether we have such requests or whether we have responded to them. We have an extradition treaty with India. And if India makes an extradition request, we will give it fair consideration.”
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The statement comes days after an official of the External Affairs Ministry said in New Delhi that the U.S. had rejected India's extradition plea for want of more evidential links.
Maintaining that the Ministry had “renewed the request for an extradition on a number of occasions, from the time it was first made in 2003 till September 2008 when the last request was made,” the official said the Ministry would “proceed on the basis of the collective decision of the government.”