After 18 Years, India Wants Anderson

ALOKE TIKKU / Statesman (Kolkata, India) 28jun03

See US Congressional Letter to Dow 18jul03

NEW DELHI—Eighteen years after the gas leakage at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India has finally asked the USA to hand over the then company CEO, Mr Warren M Anderson.

Delhi recently handed over the extradition request to Washington — a non-bailable warrant against Mr Anderson has been pending since April 1992 — but it’s unlikely that the USA will accede to the request. Mr Anderson faces charges of culpable homicide for the tragedy that killed thousands of people and exposed lakhs to the deadly methyl iso-cyanate.

US officials had, many years ago, told their Indian counterparts that they should not be expected to hand over Mr Anderson. Since then, Delhi has ducked demands for moving his extradition request.

In August last year, Bhopal’s chief judicial magistrate had rejected CBI’s request to dilute the charge against Mr Anderson from culpable homicide to death due to negligence and told them to work on the extradition request. The government told the agency to improve the evidence linking Mr Anderson with the incident.

The CBI handed over its revised extradition plea to the foreign ministry in December. In February, the judge had ordered the foreign ministry to secure Mr Anderson’s extradition, prompting the government to finally forward the documents to the USA.

source: http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=1&id=43504&usrsess=1 2jul03