On 7th June, 2010, a court in the Indian city of Bhopal sentenced eight people to two years each in jail over a gas plant leak that killed around 25 thousand people and affected lakhs of victims in the December of 1984. The convictions are the first since the disaster at the Union Carbide plant – the world’s worst industrial accident. Many feel that the judgment is too less in relation to the crime that was committed. What’s worse is that Union Carbide’s chairman at the time of the disaster, Warren Anderson, now 89, lives in seclusion in Long Island, New York, and is unreachable. Being away from India, it is also further disheartening that he cannot be tried according to the Indian Judiciary system rules.

I covered the Bhopal Gas Tragedy 25 years protests in December 2009, and had a chance to visit the factory and also interact with a few families.

The impact of the disaster cannot be felt in words read in the newspapers only. One has to see the images of the location, and hear stories from the locals, in order to believe what happened.  Nothing can substitute an actual location visit to study the impact. An entire generation was lost through this disaster. As a documentary photographer it is always difficult to document these situations, as it requires one’s emotions to be strong. It is easy to get affected by the carnage around and be deeply moved on hearing the stories.

Some of the images from the below collection were featured on galleries on Hindustan Times Online, on 9th June 2010.

A child explores the area around the factory

Mother Daughter

Twisted Fate

Where to go?

Burning Anderson

At the epicenter of every protest lies just one man and that is Warren Anderson.  His effigies were burnt endless times and at different locations

Motors and Lines

A Close Up of the Plant

Of Pipes and Pillars

One of the Phosgene Tanks in the factory premises

The Dying Light

Innocent Children

The affected comprise of innocent children who have no clue of what is being passed on them through their elder generations, to older women who know that something really bad happened that fateful December night.

Years of Agony

Chai Wala adjacent the boundary wall of the factory

Justice On or Off

Even after 25 years after the gas leak, 390 tons of toxic chemicals abandoned at the UCIL plant continue to leak and pollute the groundwater in the region and affect thousands of Bhopal residents who depend on it. This has been recorded in numerous journals and research work, but the actions taken after it been negligible.

Weeping Lady

After the people who got away in Bhopal gas tragedy case, it will definitely have a lot of people question the Indian Judiciary System. We as the normal citizens can only hope for the best.

Some more images from the event and the location can be seen below.

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