India: Court Stands by Charges in Bhopal Leak by Hari Kumar

India’s Supreme Court dismissed a petition on Wednesday to reconsider a decision to reduce the charges against seven men convicted for their roles in the 1984 leak at the Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal. The ruling was a setback to the victims of the gas leak who sought tougher penalties against the executives serving at the time of the accident, which killed 3,000 people and sickened thousands more. India’s Central Bureau of Investigation had filed a petition requesting that the men be charged with the Indian equivalent of manslaughter instead of negligence. The executives, all Indian citizens, were sentenced last year to two years in prison. Union Carbide paid a $470 million settlement.