Bhopal: The Sentencing

About six months ago, I found myself shaken and very upset reading the coverage of the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster. Below is the picture I chose to accompany that post:... and here was what I wrote about that picture: "That is the leg. Of. A. Seven-year old. Child. Born 18 years after the disaster." Sickening and heartbreaking.

So here we are 25 1/2 years after the fact. You'd suppose that those responsible have been relaxing in cozy little cells. Well, of course not... but they did get sentenced today.

Campaign groups representing survivors of the Bhopal disaster expressed outrage today at the "insulting" sentences given to seven men for their roles in the tragedy.

The accused, several of them now in their 70s, were convicted of criminal negligence and sentenced to two years in prison but bailed pending an appeal.

The convictions are the only ones so far in a case that was opened the day after the tragedy, which happened 26 years ago.

Up to 25,000 people are thought to have died after being exposed to clouds of lethal gas that escaped from a chemical plant run by the US company Union Carbide on 2 and 3 December 1984.

Half a million are estimated to have been harmed in some way in what remains one of the worst industrial accidents in the world.

But wait, there's more! The accused also got fined! About $2100, if the pound and dollar haven't drifted too much recently.

So YAY for justice served!