A Bhopal court will today resume hearing in the criminal case concerning the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster that killed thousands and exposed over half a million people.
The matter will be heard in Court A1 of the District Court by JMFC Hemlata Ahirwar. The hearing will again centre on whether Indian courts have jurisdiction over Dow Chemical, which owns Union Carbide.
In the last hearing, the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is prosecuting the case, argued that criminal jurisdiction is based on where the incident occurred.
The hearing is scheduled for 11 am. Victims’ groups and activists say Dow must be made to face trial, having evaded accountability for decades.
The gas tragedy struck on the night of December 2–3, 1984, when methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide factory, exposing more than 500,000 people to toxic fumes. Thousands died within days of the leak. Tens of thousands more have suffered for decades due to chronic illnesses, birth defects, and contaminated groundwater.
