Remembering 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy -

Eleven persons were killed when Styrene gas leaked from the LG Polymers factory at Visakhapatnam before dawn on May 7.

Let's remember what our politicians and bureaucrats did after the gas leak in Bhopal.

1. Warren Anderson, the CEO of the Union Carbide and the key accused, was arrested in Bhopal, only to be bailed out, put on a state plane to fly to Delhi from where he flew to the U.S. same evening, never to return to stand trial in the gas leak that killed thousands of people.

2. Swaraj Puri, a high-profile IPS guy and Bhopal's Superintendent of Police in 1984, told the Union Carbide Toxic Gas Leakage Enquiry Commission that Anderson was arrested on a written order and released on an oral order. He added that the oral order came "from higher-ups".

3. Moti Singh, Bhopal's district collector in 1984, said Anderson managed to get away by using a phone in the room where he was detained to contact persons in the US. "Had we removed the landline phone from his room, Anderson would not have escaped." Singh has gone on record.

4. Arjun Singh was the CM. His secretary Brahma Swaroop informed him of calls from Delhi seeking bail for Anderson. Anderson was flown from Bhopal to Delhi in a state plane after he was granted bail. Swaraj Puri drove Anderson in his official car and dropped him to airport.

5. By their own admission (TV interviews after the Bhopal gas tragedy judgment in 2010 and a book by Moti Singh) Swaraj Puri and Moti Singh had almost forced Anderson to post bail after his arrest on December 7, 1984 upon his (Anderson’s) arrival in Bhopal in wake of the leaks.

6. In 2017, after as many as 32 years after the Bhopal gas disaster, the district court on Saturday ordered registration of criminal case against Moti Singh and Swaraj Puri for helping the escape of Anderson.

7. The court of the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Bhu Bhaskar Yadav noted in the order that ‘Moti Singh and Swaraj Puri were busy using their intelligence and system at disposal to help a criminal escape, rather than helping the victims (of gas tragedy).’

8. The court also observed that the Anderson was given bail and allowed to leave without approval of court, despite being booked under non-bailable section (IPC 304 - culpable homicide not amounting to murder). Thanks to Moti Singh and Puri and their masters in Bhopal and Delhi.

9. "Flight authorised by CM" - this was the entry in the journey log book of the aircraft (VT-EID King Air-200C) Anderson out of Bhopal on December 7, 1984. This is what the pilot revealed before justice (retd.) S L Kochhar commission probing Anderson's escape from India.

10. Swaraj Puri was made state DGP by Babulal Gour during his tenure as chief minister. Puri was removed from the post of DGP in September 2006 when a case was filed against him for using NRI quota for his son’s admission in a college in Indore.

11. Swaraj Puri was also removed from his office, after Bhopal court's order in 2010, where he was appointed after his retirement as a member of Complaint Regulatory body of Narmada Valley Development Tribunal.

12. When Rajiv visited Bhopal Dec 6, 1984, Arjun Singh did the usual political drama when he offered to step down as chief minister. As usual, Rajiv played the suave politician's role and turned down the offer. He said providing relief to the affected should be the priority.

13. In 1985, after the occurrence of the Bhopal disaster, Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) was awarded contracts worth hundreds of millions Rupees by Rajiv's government for the distribution of condoms in rural Bihar and Uttar Pradesh under the programme of social marketing.