The judge hearing the compensation case for...

The judge hearing the compensation case for victims of the world’s worst industrial accident, at Bhopal, India in 1984, has rejected a defense claim that he is biased and should stand down. In a 10-page judgment, Judge M. W. Deo said no grounds for his withdrawal or the transfer of the case to another judge had been established. Union Carbide lawyers accused Deo of bias. Union Carbide owns the Bhopal pesticides plant from which poison gas escaped in December, 1984. The company charged that he had been moved by the plight of the victims and had ordered interim compensation without establishing liability. He set June 29 for the next hearing of the compensation trial.