India Won’t Reduce Bhopal Charges
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A court in India rejected a move to reduce charges against the former chairman of U.S.-based Union Carbide Corp. for a 1984 gas leak that killed thousands in one of the world’s worst industrial accidents.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Rameshwar Kotha ordered extradition proceedings to begin against former Chairman Warren Anderson.
Anderson originally was charged with “culpable homicide,” which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Federal prosecutors in May asked the court to reduce the charge to “hurt by negligence.”
Anderson, whose whereabouts were not known, would have faced a maximum sentence of two years if convicted in absentia of the lesser charge. He has refused to appear in court in India since the case opened in 1992.
Dow Chemical Co., of Midland, Mich., acquired Union Carbide last year.
Union Carbide paid the Indian government $470 million as part of a settlement in 1989.
The company accepted moral responsibility for the disaster, but said the plant was sabotaged by a disgruntled employee.
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