Bhopal victims lose legal fight against 'lenient' sentences for factory chiefs

India's Supreme Court rejected an appeal yesterday to reinstate stronger charges against seven people convicted of negligence over the 1984 toxic gas leak in Bhopal that killed an estimated 15,000 people.

The leak at a Union Carbide plant, the world's worst industrial accident, left thousands more with devastating deformities and other health problems. Survivors say their plight has been long ignored, and nearly three decades later justice has still not been served. In recent years, they have demanded harsher punishments for those responsible, called for the extradition of the former head of Union Carbide from the United States and pushed for far more generous compensation for the victims and their families.

The seven former officials of Union Carbide's Indian subsidiary were initially charged with culpable homicide, but a 1996 Supreme Court ruling reduced the charges. Last year, they were convicted of causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years in prison, That relatively light sentence caused an outcry and the government appealed. The officials, all Indian nationals and many in their 70s, were released on bail.

In rejecting the prosecution's case, the court said the government never explained why it had waited 14 years to try to reinstate the stronger charges to gain longer sentences.