Apart from Math, History is one subject that has always fascinated me. Though both the subjects are as different as chalk and cheese. In one everything can be proved and in other everything you have to believe. And wherever belief is concerned, you tend to believe more a first hand account. But how many first hand accounts of events of historic importance are there? I think you can go back only till partition. I’ve heard few of my Punjabi uncles narrating the series of tragic events that took place in the winter of ’47. Horrific as they are, there is one more disaster of which I have heard from the people directly involved in that. Actually I was also involved in that but I was a kid of only 2 years at that time. Yes, I’m talking about Bhopal Gas leak accident.
My mom’s family belongs to Bhopal and on that fateful night of 2nd and 3rd December 1984, we all were in Bhopal because of my Uncle’s marriage. It was around 1:30 in the night that people started smelling something in the air. At first, it felt like it’s an LPG gas leak but when all the cylinders (around 10-12 in number because of the marriage) were checked 2-3 times and the smell getting more discomforting, that people started guessing. And then by the dawn, the news spread faster than the gas in the air.
There was a poisonous gas that leaked from the premises of Union Carbide’s plant in old city. There were reports that initially said that the gas has only caused people to vomit and made their eyes red/swollen and no casualty was there. Newspapers were not allowed to give the actual number because it could cause the panic. But to hell with that, people got the actual numbers: more than 20,000 dead and over a lakh having serious problems. But these still are official figures. Rest you can guess. In the morning, families running away from the Gas plant as far as possible were the only sites.
We were lucky that we were living at a place that was 15 km away from the gas plant. And we feel lucky every time such an incident happens and none of “our” people has been harmed. But this incident left an indelible mark on public’s mind space. And yes there were more visible ones as well. The next generation of the families living in the vicinity of the plant has also been crippled. And many have died a silent death, in the coming years, which never got counted in that initial figure.
This week came the “justice” to the families of victims. It took 26 good years to establish the responsibility for this worst industrial disaster in the history of mankind. And wow! The convicts were given 2 years of imprisonment and 1.7 lakh Rs fine for causing death due to “negligence”. All the convicts got bail just after their sentencing as well. If we needed any more proof of mockery of justice in India, this was it.
Now, the media would scrutinize the case and we will see a lot of charges and counter charges of government’s impotency at that time (it has already started as I post this blog). But nothing will come out of this for sure.
I have always believed that more than and sooner than any other reforms, we need judicial reforms in our country. If you look at any problem of India, the bottom line is that the offenders know that first they wont be caught and if they are caught they wont be persecuted and in case they are persecuted they would have died comfortably by then. Though we know that they would rot in hell for sure but we want them to rot in prison here on earth. This whole system here is so “Justice proof” that Warren Anderson was openly allowed to run away (of course he bribed the people who were supposed to persecute him and US pressurized Indian government).
There have been so many instances of criminals being left scot free because of delay in Indian legal process. But we can’t blame judiciary for this whole mess. I read somewhere that it would take 350 years to complete all the cases pending in courts across the country. What we need is judicial reforms. We need to increase the number of judges and courts (actually we need to double them according to one report), we need to change some archaic laws (the recent verdict is a result of that only) and introduce some new and better laws. We all have witnessed what can happen with judicial activism (Few years back, Veerappan kidnapped Kannada superstar Rajkumar and asked for release of around 120 criminals and the Karnataka government actually gave orders for their release but SC came into the picture and spoiled Veerappan’s party).
Politicians here are never going to go aggressively for judicial reforms, as they know that they would be the first casualties of those reforms. But I believe that pressure from public can really make them act. And media has a big role to play here. If we can have justice delivered in Kasab’s case within a year, why not in all those other million cases?
May the souls of the deceased in Bhopal gas leak rest in peace.
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