Moily maintains case against Anderson still not closed

TNN

NEW DELHI, 09 June 2010: Probably unaware of the fact that in June 2004 the United States had refused to extradite Union Carbide head Warren Anderson, Union law minister Veerappa Moily on Tuesday kept the hope of bringing him to book alive by stating that the case against him was not closed yet.

Not making much of the allegation by former CBI officer BR Lall that he was asked by Indian foreign ministry to let Anderson go, Moily said, "After retirement people can say anything."

The law minister maintained that the case against Anderson was not closed yet and he still figured in the CBI chargesheet. "Technically he is still a proclaimed offender. Courts have declared him an offender," Moily said. "The CBI has filed charge sheet. The courts then frame charges. There is one person here who has not responded to the summons or replied to the charges. He has absconded and was declared a proclaimed offender," he said, adding that in case "he can be obtained", the trial can still take place.

Asked if there is any way the Centre can intervene in the case at this stage, the law minister refused to say anything. "I need to study the facts. I do not know at this stage," he said.

But, there appears little that can be done at present as the first request for extradition was made to the US authorities 11 years after Anderson was declared a fugitive by the Bhopal trial court in 1992.

On Tuesday, the US, which had turned down the request for Anderson’s extradition in June 2004, reiterated that it would do nothing to reopen the case on its soil. On reading the fine print, it would mean India can forget about tangible results from any fresh attempts to extradite the Bhopal gas tragedy fugitive, no matter how long his name figured in the list of accused.

On Monday, Moily had also said the verdict will have an impact on the civil nuclear liability bill but a day later he said, "The bill is with the standing committee and I cannot comment."

After the verdict, Moily had also said that the government will fast-track the Bhopal gas tragedy case in the High Court as it has learnt "big lessons" from the verdict and could go in for a stand-alone legislation to ensure that the culprits in such incidents are brought to book effectively.