Madhya Pradesh High Court (HC) has issued a strongly-worded chargesheet against former state chief secretary Iqbal Singh Bains, two secretaries of the Union government, and three other senior officials in a contempt case over non-compliance of court orders for medical care of Bhopal gas tragedy victims. The court observed that their conduct showed insensitivity towards the gas victims and willful disobedience to Supreme Court and High Court directions.
Apart from Bains, those issued a chargesheet include Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan, Union chemical & fertilisers secretary Arti Ahuja, Indian Council for Medical Research’s senior deputy director Rama Krishnan, former director of Bhopal Memorial Hospital & Research Centre (BMHRC) Prabha Desikan, and director of National Institute for Research on Environmental Health (NIREH) Dr Rajnarayan Tiwari.
The court had already convicted MP additional chief secretary, health & gas relief, Mohd Suleman, and two officials of National Informatics Centre (NIC) in the contempt petition filed by NGOs working among gas victims.
A division bench of Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice D N Mishra stated, ‘It is obvious that despite the lapse of more than 10 years, you respondents have demonstrated no urgency or sincerity in complying with directions of the Supreme Court as well as of this court, thereby leaving gas victims in the lurch. You have tried your best to render the concept of PIL nugatory by dragging your feet on compliance. This court does not see any good reason behind this laxity by you, except for insensitivity towards gas victims.’
The court further observed that the respondents have ‘willfully shown disobedience’ to Supreme Court and High Court directions.
In 2012, the Supreme Court had set up a monitoring committee to oversee the medical care provided to gas victims at designated hospitals, including BMHRC. The Supreme Court issued 20 directives to address issues such as shortage of doctors, digitisation of medical records, and shortage of medicines and equipment in gas relief hospitals. Later, the case was transferred to Madhya Pradesh HC.
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