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India's Supreme Court refuses pleas for tougher sentences for those responsible for the world's worst industrial disaster. A toxic gas leak at a plant run by Union Carbide caused the death of thousands of residents of nearby Bhopal.

India's top court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal for harsher sentences for seven people convicted for their role in the Bhopal industrial disaster that killed thousands of people in 1984.

The seven employees of U.S. chemical firm Union Carbide were sentenced to two years in prison last June.

They were convicted of negligence that led to a toxic leak--and the world's worst industrial accident.

The court decision sparked outrage and forced the government to bring an appeal before the Supreme Court to seek a tougher penalty on grounds of homicide.

The appeal, called a curative petition, was filed by India's Central Bureau of Investigation.

But the Supreme Court rejected the petition.

[Sanjay Parikh, Petitioners' Council]:
"The curative petition, which was filed by the CBI, was rejected by the Supreme Court on the ground that it has been moved after 14 years and doesn't invoke any curative jurisdiction."

On December 3rd 1984, around 40 metric tons of toxic gas leaked into the atmosphere and was carried to a nearby residential area called Bhopal.

Activists say 25 thousand people died from the accident and about 100 thousand people continue to suffer today from ailments that range from cancer, blindness to birth defects.