US will consider plea for Anderson's extradition

WASHINGTON: Days after ruling out any 'new inquiries' against Union Carbide in the wake of the Bhopal court verdict, the US today said it is prepared to give "fair consideration" to any fresh request from India for extradition of the company's former chief Warren Anderson over the 1984 gas disaster.

"We have an extradition treaty with India. And if India makes an extradition request to us, we will give it fair consideration," State Department spokesman P J Crowley said.

If the government of India makes such a request, the US will "carefully evaluate" it, he told reporters in response to a question.

Crowley, however, said he was not in a position to verify whether the US had already received such requests or whether it had responded to them, arguing that all such issues were confidential.

A day after the Bhopal court convicted and sentenced to two years former Union Carbide India Chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others on Monday, the US had ruled out any 'new inquiries' against the company and also hoped that the verdict would bring "closure" to the families of the gas leak victims.

On that day, responding to a specific question on whether there was a request by India for Anderson's extradition, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake had said: "As a matter of policy, we never discuss extradition, so I cannot comment on that."

Crowley today also noted that it was hard to draw a comparison between the Bhopal gas tragedy that left over 15,000 dead and the BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico now, saying the American companies were "very mindful and respectful" of the rules of the land when they operated overseas.