Bhopal gas tragedy: Extradition of main accused Anderson in abeyance
5 Dec, 2013
An application was filed with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get some general information on the extradition requests made by India along with the details of the requests made to the United States government for the extradition of Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson, the main accused in Bhopal gas tragedy.
The reply from the ministry said that the extradition plea for Warren Anderson was sent to the US authorities in April, 2011 and it is still under the consideration of the American government. About some other related details, the ministry cited Section 8(1)(h)
Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders;
of the RTI Act and said that the information could not be provided as it might impede the process of investigation.
It has been reported in the media that Anderson was declared a fugitive from justice by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal in 1992, for failing to appear at the court hearings an arrest warrant was issued for him in 2009. So far, the United States government has declined to extradite him citing a lack of evidence.
The reply also states that in past five years, India has made 58 extradition requests with different countries and has received 54 such requests from other nations. However, the ministry didn’t provide other information including name of persons against whom these extradition requests were made saying that the information was exempt under Section 8(1)(a)
Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence;
of the RTI Act.