Prohibitory orders ahead of Bhopal gas verdict Monday

BHOPAL - Orders prohibiting gathering of four or more people have been clamped around the premises of the Bhopal district court, which will pronounce judgment in the Bhopal gas tragedy case Monday, officials said Sunday.

“The prohibitory orders - restricting gathering of more than four people at a place - would be in force from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday in a one kilometre radius around the district court to avoid

any untoward incident,” Bhopal’s Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Rajneesh Shrivastava told IANS.

The survivors of the gas tragedy Sunday sought capital punishment for the accused but are not too hopeful of getting full justice.

Imposition of prohibitory orders would also mean that any public meeting, protest, slogan shouting and other such activities would not be allowed near the premises, Shrivastava said.

The verdict in the case, arguments for which closed May 13, is slated to be announced by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Mohan P.Tiwari over 25 years after the tragedy occurred.

On the intervening night of Dec 2-3, 1984, tonnes of methyl iso-cyanate (MIC) and other lethal gases spewed out of the now defunct Union Carbide Corporation’s pesticide plant here, killing more than 3,500 people instantly and maiming several thousand others for life.

In the weeks that followed, 15,250 more people who had inhaled the gas or consumed contaminated water died, according to official figures. Victims’ rights group claim the toll was over 25,000.