The night of December 2nd-3rd, 1984 should have been a regular winter night for the hundreds of thousands of residents in the Indian city of Bhopal. Many Bhopalis ( as the residents of the city are called) snuggled under their blankets (if they could afford them) while mothers held their babies close to keep them warm.
In their slumber, they breathed deep and steady–taking in the deadly odorless methyl isocyanate gas that was released from the nearby Union Carbide India Limited plant in the city. On that fateful night, 40,000 kgs (about 60,000 pounds) of the toxic colorless gas escaped from a tank that exploded in the fertilizer plant. The gas wafted through the city–setting the stage for the world’s worst industrial disaster.
People who breathed in the gas suffered symptoms ranging from suffocation, blindness, and vomiting to spontaneous abortions, lung, kidney and brain damage, reported The Times of India. 3000 people died in the immediate aftermath and over the years, hundreds of thousands have been affected by the gas leak. Some estimates peg the number of people affected by the tragedy at over 20,000.
600,000 others have suffered other ailments due to the leak.
On December 7th, the then-Chairman and CEO of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, was arrested on his arrival in Bhopal. He was, however, bailed out within six hours and flown to New Delhi in a government plane. He immediately turned tail, never to return, despite being served repeated warrants by the Indian court. Anderson has not showed up for any of the subsequent trials and now lives peacefully in Long Island. 
On Monday, a court in Bhopal convicted eight people accused in the leak. The officials from the Union Carbide India plant were found guilty of criminal negligence and culpable homicide not amounting to murder. They are due to be sentenced at a later date.
India watched in stunned silence as seven of the accused (one died during trial) walked away, facing the prospect of spending a maximum of two years in jail and spending less than $2000 in fines. The Indian justice system also allows a lengthy process of appeals, which if granted by the higher courts would allow the convicted to literally walk away scot free.
The families of the victims and the press were barred from entering the court. Because if they had, no Judge or lawyer would have been able to meet the eye of the victims and their kin. Maimed for life, these dirt-poor victims have received less than $300 in compensation money and face a lifetime of anguish–both physical and mental.
It took 26 years for the lengthy legal process to churn and spit out this judgment. A radioactive piece of crap, the mere thought of which makes one’s stomach turn.
