The ghosts of Bhopal

In Hindu mythology the spirit or atma will not rest in peace if gross injustice is done to it or if the last rites are not properly done. I am not a staunch believer of mythology but the ghosts of bhopal gas victims are too many and too evident to ignore. The actions of the congress government have been inefficient, corrupt and disgusting.

In 1985, the Indian government, through an act of parliament, granted itself exclusive rights to represent the victims of Bhopal in India and overseas. It in fact took the matter in its own hands and victims from now on were dependent on the government for relief and compensation. They could not stand by their case in US courts and the case was dismissed from US courts. In the Indian courts we saw the supreme court judge who diluted the charges against the accused made the chairman of Bhopal Memorial Hospital Trust. The same judge had also allowed union carbide to slip out of its criminal liability for Bhopal disaster by allowing them to liquidate its Indian Shares.

Union Carbide/Dow claims that the sale of UCIL to Eveready Industries in 1994 ended its liability for the site, although its lease from the Madhya Pradesh government specified that the land must be returned in "usable and habitable condition." Groups of victims continue to pursue legal avenues, both in India and the US, for environmental remediation of the Bhopal site. The merger with Dow has made their case more difficult. Only one thing is clear: the proceedings will take a lot more time, specially when senior lawyers like Mr Abhishek Manu Singhvi of the ruling congress party representing Dow Chemicals in Indian Courts.

What made the government agree to the paltry compensation is anybodies guess. What made the supreme court not intervene in this shocking out of court settlement is also anybodies guess. The government would do well to at least make public the kickbacks if any received to do this act of acting like vultures and celebrating the tragedy faced by so many. To add insult to injury the supreme court also absolved union carbide of all criminal or civil liability. It was later reversed due to huge public outcry and the criminal cases continued.

The multi speciality hospital is a cruel joke on the victims. While the victims are treated free there, the other patients pay for its services and the victims are treated as second class patients.

http://bhopal.net/delhi-marchers/factsheets/BMHT%20sheet.pdf

even the meager amounts of compensation has not reached many victims after so many years due to corrupt and inefficient government. Catastrophes such as these are seen as windfalls for the corrupt officials and ministers and they squander the money meant for the victims. who will act against whom. I wonder if there are adequate honest officers in the system to act against the deluge of corrupt people in the system. Top legal brains like Mr Abhishek Manu Singhvi who also happens to be the official spokesperson of the ruling congress have taken the side of Dow Chemicals, they are busy trying to absolve it of all liabilities citing the meager amount of compensation doled out by union carbide.

just look at the argument given by union carbide to dismiss the case against it in US courts.

it stated that there is a:

practical impossibility for American courts and juries, imbued with US cultural values, living standards and expectations, to determine living standards for people living in the slums or "hutments" surrounding the UCIL, Bhopal, India, [which] by itself confirms that the Indian forum is overwhelmingly the most appropriate. Such abject poverty and the vastly different values, standards and expectations which accompany it are commonplace in India and the third world.

A US newspaper took up this line of argument, calculating that: An American life is worth approximately five hundred thousand dollars. Taking into account the fact that India's gross national product is 1.7 percent of that of the United States, the court should compensate for the decease of each Indian victim proportionately, that is to say with eight thousand five hundred dollars.

ultimately what the victims got was not even one tenth of that 1.7 percent. our government obviously thinks the worth of Indian lives is much less than what americans think about it. its a pity we will have to vote the same people back to power again. there just aren't any options.

In Bhopal, the Indian government has actively assisted in the repression and intimidation of activists working for victims. In 1985, police raided a medical clinic for victims, confiscated medical records and arrested six volunteer doctors. At least ten criminal cases have been lodged against 7,100 activists including charges for violating the Official Secrets Act. In 1991, police attacked activists from a local victims' organisation, ironically while they were trying to submit a plea to the governor asking for protection from police brutality.

I have extensively quoted from these sites

http://bhopal.net

http://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/06globalsociety.html#n71

wipe the smile off his face

no prizes for guessing what smile i am writing about. it has pierced the hearts of all of us ever since it was flashed on the tv screens. barkha dutt writes that the smile has to go. it wont go by itself. it has to be wiped off his face.

contempt of court is something every one is scared of. no one has the guts to challange the judgments. four journalists of mid day were recently handed over jail terms for raising doubts about a judge. when the top court of the land gives a judgment in favour of the man in question allowing his appeal against the high court judgment ordering enquiry on the affidavit of the victims brother. there is little that can be done under the ambit of the law.

the heading of this post "wipe the smile off his face" i had heard in a tv program and it was said by an american judge as he gave the verdict of guilty to a criminal. the judge had been irritated no end by seeing the accused constant smiling face in all the hearings in spite of serious nature of the offences.

i am not a lawyer, but i think that when there is a ruling from the supreme court, it cannot be overturned. i have circulated the supreme court judgement to all the news channels and news papers, but then no one has even mentioned it in any of their discussions. no one could question the law minister about who verifies the legal and moral correctness of judgments if in doubt. is it a crime even to ask questions. is the nation outraged committing a crime.

the previous cases when such outcry was raised they could be challanged in the higher courts. even then, we were dependent on the top political bosses of the ruling party and they did intervene. again if anything can be done it will be done by them . only they can make the sluggish law minister rise from the deep slumber and do something.

our memory and that of the press is short. there is little that we can do against the system. there are a few news channels specially times now that look determined and i hope against hope that something will happen. or else the ugly smiles will broaden into deafening laughter. so even if there is a retrial, due to the supreme court judgement he cannot be tried for abetment of suicide. so the sentence cannot be more than two years. since everything under three years is bailable, make yourself ready for the laughter.

to go through the supreme court judgment go to the following link

http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/chejudis.asp

click on petitioner/respondent

enter petitioner as S.P.S. Rathore

and search for dates between 2000 and 2009.

just google the names of the judges for more information.

Smiling criminals and underground victims

another shocking judgement and still no one to question the judge. going by previous precedence the judge who gave the judgement in Ruchika Girhotra case must be expecting a promotion soon.

also the honorable justice of the punjab high court could not see how all these false cases against her brother, his beating up by the police, the continous harassment and goons around her could drive her to commit suicide. they certainly have more intelligence than all of us , common people of this land, we keep thinking how she must have felt when her loved and dear family members had to go through hell due to her complaint, how a sister feels about her brother being beaten up and in jail due to her complaint, what her father goes through being harrassed by the police and seeing goons following her daughter. not the esteemed judges and the smartly dressed policemen. they are battle hardened. they are programed to protect "SHRI Rathore".

ram jethmalani, one of the senior most criminal lawyers of this country shouted in a tv program on ndtv "the buck stops here" she must have committed suicide for some other reason, prove that the cases against her brother were false, he could not imagine how a person suddenly became a car lifter and had so many car theft cases slapped on him on a regular basis, then suddenly the cases were dropped after his sister ended her life. the firs are still there, it is not something that can be removed or made invisible, maybe the top lawyers and judges and policemen are trained to hoodwink the general public.

the cbi would do well to explain in detail how they cant make charges stick. everyone can see wrong was done. even the cbi can see it. but they are too meek and afraid of the judges even to frame charges. all their gallantry and intelligence is to be used against the common man, in repressing the law abiding public. they can hardly suppress their smile and glee that they got a six month sentence. the accused too got out within minutes on bail. he was happy and smiling.
the family of the victims however are still cowering away from the media glare. who can blame them after what they have gone through. they are too terrified to even utter a word while the world famous criminal lawyer can shout non sense on a tv news channel. he has reasons to be so brazen, all the police and judicial system that thrashed the daylights out of the victims is out there to give him protection.

The statues and puppets of Mayavati.

here is a lady who has all the power in her hands which could change the destiny of the most populous state of this country. it was a victory of democracy. a lady who had the guts to put varun gandhi in jail when other governments were behaving like wet cats to goonda elements in their states.
i dont know who her advisors are, for she did such a wonderful job in greater noida with a team of efficient civil servants, but all the dreams come crashing down with her obsession for statues and puppets.
the making of one of her senseless parks just next to the okhla bird park is senselessness of the extreme kind. no official had the guts to say no to her project. she has reduced the officials of the state government to faithful sycophants. and now the central government is following suit.
even a common person knows that this has been a bird park for years. the bird lovers were appalled when they saw such senseless and useless construction going on near the sanctuary. but the courts dont see it. they are being fed reports by various government agencies. what judges say on basis of what can not be questioned in this country anyway.
and what are our journalists doing, jumping from one story to another in a hurry. they cant see this blatant violation of all laws. their animated news readers will be very excited about it for a few seconds, then they will leave it, like many other stories to die a natural death. the all powerfull media with its wealthy barons and energetic executives will be chattering powerlessly and sometimes mindlessly and many times with no affect at all. the officials and concerned people have perfected the art of ignoring them anyway, and the media has neither the inclination nor time to ask old questions.
when i asked a local person about what type of construction was going on , he said chidiyon ko dekhne ke liye yahaan par pakki jagah banegi. i am sorry but wild birds are not puppets. they are not lifetime paid employees who will dance to our tunes. they will stop coming here soon. we dont deserve them anyway.

We suddenly realise about ragging when someone is killed

here is another traigic culmination of something that was waiting to happen, ragging is so much a part of college life , it is almost a tradition. the principals and wardens are mostly weak spineless creatures and those who do ragging are wards of someone with a clout in the system. i still fail to realise till date what stops the top officials of institutions to curb this menace, they hesitate so much in taking harsh bold steps in even the most glaring of cases.
i have read some reports that the culprits in the present case in himachal pradesh were habitual offenders and there was at least one major case already against them. i still wonder why none of our journalists has pursued or highlighted this. all of them were pouring over a tragic piece of paper scribbled by the victim in a state of helplessness.
no one ever questions why is the principal conveniently allowed to resign so that he can take up another post. most likely he has already joined somewhere else. why is he not suspended till the enquiry is over and then dismissed or terminated. we dont want such principals in our system. let the message be loud and clear.
i sincerely hope that someone will print the report of the magistrate who is looking in this matter. the govt has assured this will happen in 15 days. hope we dont forget it till then.

Brazen fraud of star signs and tarrot cards

this is the most humiliating of them all. we are made to believe that star signs are truely responsible for or future. we have to believe that various pundits talking all that gibberish will make our lives better. dont the journalists interviewing the tarrot cards lady feel ashamed of themselves. dont they have the moral duty of not misleading the public who has faith in them.

will anyone have the guts to discontinue the horroscope thing. will anyone call a spade a spade.

why are sena and mns thugs spared

we have been seeing it for years. first it was shiv sena, and now mns. they vandalise at will. we even see television pictures of them doing it brazenly. no effort is made to identify men on camera doing it and then following up their case. so much for our investigative journalism.

no check is made to see if correct charges are pressed against them. people beat and humiliate the citizens of india and we just watch. law and constitution is broken and we record it and watch. how smart, how brave, cogratulations.
by the way why cant the news channels and papers at least hire a competent lawyer and challange the police to file relevant charges.