A district judge in Bhopal, India, rejected...

A district judge in Bhopal, India, rejected a request by Union Carbide Corp. that he remove himself from the Bhopal gas disaster case because he showed bias against the company. “Such a procedure is unheard of in trial courts in this country, where the normal course is to approach the high court for transfer of the suit,” Judge M. W. Deo said. Union Carbide’s lawyers on May 6 asked Deo to remove himself from hearing India’s $3-billion suit against the U.S.-based multinational company. They said Deo’s order on Dec. 17 for Union Carbide to pay “interim relief” to the gas victims showed bias because he had not ruled on the merits of the case.