Victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy burnt effigies of the governments of India and the United States on Saturday protesting against the “double standards” applied in the cases of diplomat Devyani Khobragade and Union Carbide gas leak.
Activists of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sanghtan welcomed the Indian government’s strong stand to bring Ms. Khobragade, accused of visa fraud, back to India. However, they condemned both the countries for refusing to bring to India Warren Anderson, former chairman of the Union Carbide Corporation, against whom an arrest warrant has been pending for the gas leak that killed around 16,000 people in December 1984.
‘Have not got adequate compensation, yet’ Organiser of the protest at the Yaadgaar-e-Shahjahani park, Abdul Jabbar, told The Hindu that 29 years after the incident many still had not got adequate compensation as neither country was willing to prosecute those who caused the leak.
“Are Bhopali lives cheaper than the life of Devyani? We feel betrayed when our government can do so much to save one person, but not the bare minimum to bring justice to lakhs of survivors. The U.S. is so worried about the rights of one domestic assistant, but it turns a blind eye to hundreds of deformed children who have been maimed by corporate greed,” he said.
