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Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court, Bhopal

Trial court in Bhopal that heard the criminal case over the gas leak and convicted seven people and a company in 2010.

8 links, 6 backed by primary records

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Also known as
Bhopal CJM court

Connections 8

intervened in

charged

  • Union Carbide Corporation 1 Dec 1987 charge sheet filed by the CBI; the company has not appeared in the Indian criminal case Primary record 12
  • Warren Anderson 1 Dec 1987 charge sheet for culpable homicide not amounting to murder; summons issued Primary record 12
  • Union Carbide Corporation 1992 declared an absconder after it did not appear; its case was split from the others; this is not a verdict Scholarship & press 234

    Union Carbide says the court has no criminal jurisdiction over it and that the charges were quashed by the settlement; the Supreme Court revived the criminal cases in 1991.

  • Warren Anderson Feb 1992 declared an absconder after he did not appear; this is not a verdict Scholarship & press 25

convicted

  • Keshub Mahindra 7 Jun 2010 causing death by negligence and endangering life; two years’ imprisonment; the convicts were bailed Primary record 1678

    Appeals and revisions were pending in the Sessions Court in May 2011. He died on 12 April 2023; his obituary says he and the others “ultimately did not serve prison time”. The Supreme Court counts seven convicted people and the company UCIL; the BBC and PTI say eight were convicted.

  • Union Carbide India Limited 7 Jun 2010 causing death by negligence and endangering life, as accused No. 12 Primary record 1

    The Supreme Court records the conviction of accused Nos. 2 to 5, 7 to 9 and 12, and calls No. 12 UCIL. Appeals were pending in the Sessions Court in May 2011.

located in

Timeline 7 dates
  1. 1 Dec 1987 Union Carbide Corporation charged by Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court, Bhopal
  2. 1 Dec 1987 Warren Anderson charged by Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court, Bhopal
  3. 1992 Union Carbide Corporation charged by Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court, Bhopal
  4. Feb 1992 Warren Anderson charged by Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court, Bhopal
  5. 7 Jun 2010 Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court, Bhopal intervened in The Bhopal verdict of 7 June 2010
  6. 7 Jun 2010 Keshub Mahindra convicted by Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court, Bhopal
  7. 7 Jun 2010 Union Carbide India Limited convicted by Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court, Bhopal
Proof 8 sources
  1. C.B.I. v. Keshub Mahindra, curative petitions (Criminal) 39-42 of 2010, order of 11 May 2011, Supreme Court of India, 11 May 2011. Primary record
    convicting accused Nos. 2 to 5, 7 to 9 and 12 under Sections 304A, 336, 337, 338 read with Section 35 IPC and sentencing them to two years’ imprisonment.
    the Court was also unable to bring before it the other two companies, UCC and Union Carbide Eastern Inc., accused Nos. 10 and 11.
    accused No. 1 (Warren Anderson) was absconding
    the Court had before it, accused Nos. 2 to 9 and accused No. 12 (UCIL)
    resulting in filing of charge sheets by the CBI in the Court of C.J.M., Bhopal on December 01, 1987.
  2. Chronology of events in Bhopal gas tragedy case, Press Trust of India (via ThePrint), 14 Mar 2023. Scholarship & press
    CBI files charge sheet against Anderson and other accused, including UCC (USA), Union Carbide (Eastern) Hong Kong, and UCIL.
    Dec 1987: CBI files charge sheet against Anderson and other accused, including UCC (USA), Union Carbide (Eastern) Hong Kong, and UCIL. Summons served on Anderson and UCC on charges of culpable homicide.
    May 25, 1992 : CJM Bhopal separates the trial of Anderson, Union Carbide Corporation (USA) and Union Carbide Eastern Inc. (Hong Kong) from that of the other accused persons.
    February 1992: Anderson declared fugitive by court.
  3. The Bhopal tragedy: 30 years of injustice for victims and survivors (written statement to the UN Human Rights Council, ASA 20/003/2014), Amnesty International, 17 Feb 2014. Scholarship & press
    The Chief Judicial Magistrate’s (CJM) Court in Bhopal has declared UCC to be an absconder from justice.
  4. Litigation & Rulings (Bhopal), Union Carbide Corporation. Self-published
    The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bhopal (CJM), declared them absconders and directed that a warrant be issued against Mr. Anderson to initiate proceedings for extradition.
  5. Clouds of Injustice: Bhopal Disaster 20 Years On, Amnesty International, 29 Nov 2004. Scholarship & press
    The criminal prosecutions against UCC, UCE and Warren Anderson are still open and pending.
  6. Bhopal trial: Eight convicted over India gas disaster, BBC News, 7 Jun 2010. Scholarship & press
    The eight convicted on Monday were Keshub Mahindra, the chairman of the Indian arm of the Union Carbide (UCIL);
  7. Keshub asks where is proof against him. And he’s right., Governance Now, 7 Jul 2010. Scholarship & press
    “Where are the evidences,” he asks.
  8. Keshub Mahindra, Wharton grad and chairman of multinational Indian corporation, has died at 99, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 26 Apr 2023. Scholarship & press
    Mr. Mahindra and others were sentenced to two years in prison in 2010 for their roles, but ultimately did not serve prison time.
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