Organisations working for welfare of survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy today alleged that former Union Carbide Chairman Warren Anderson died unpunished due to protection by the US government and deliberate negligence of Indian government in bringing him to justice.
The organisations held a meeting in front of the defunct factory of Union Carbide here after news of the death of Anderson spread.
"Due to the protection offered by the US government and deliberate negligence of Indian government in bringing Anderson to justice, the world's worst corporate criminal died unpunished," said a joint release issued by them on Friday.
The former chief of Union Carbide Corporation, who was wanted in India for the tragedy which claimed more than 3,000 lives in one of the world's most lethal industrial accidents, died in the US state of Florida, aged 92.
Anderson, a Brooklyn carpenter's son who ascended to the top of the Union Carbide Corporation, died on September 29 at a nursing home in Vero Beach, Florida but his death was not announced by his family though it has been confirmed from public records, the New York Times reported.
"He faced grave criminal charges of homicide, grievous assault as well as killing and poisoning of animals. If convicted, he would have spent a lifetime in jail. Yet this man who killed more than 25,000 people and poisoned over half a million people, never spent a single day in jail because the US government protected him to his dying day," Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh President Rasheeda Bee said.
{{/usCountry}}"He faced grave criminal charges of homicide, grievous assault as well as killing and poisoning of animals. If convicted, he would have spent a lifetime in jail. Yet this man who killed more than 25,000 people and poisoned over half a million people, never spent a single day in jail because the US government protected him to his dying day," Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh President Rasheeda Bee said.
{{/usCountry}}Balkrishna Namdeo of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha blamed successive Indian governments at the centre for negligence in extradition Anderson from the USA.