AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE: THE BHOPAL CASE REVISITED, THE CONTRIBUTION FROM INDIA TO INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LAW

Abstract

This paper primarily analyses the contribution of the Indian legal system for international law and the doctrine of forum non conveniens, which is a piece of American legislation mostly utilised to fend off accountability of faulty management governance from American companies.  We look into the historical background of multilateral organisations, the Indian legislation to remediate the unfairness to the local communities affected by the Bhopal disaster, and particularly to the lawsuit brought in the Southern District of New York by the government of India to explain the legal argument of this doctrine applied to transnational lawsuits. We conclude that the doctrine of forum non conveniens is a judicial retrogression for legal remedies involving the protection of the national and international environment, local ecosystems, human health and the unborn. As a result, Bhopal local communities experienced injustice, inequality and health insecurity in a century of sustainable practices thus far. The Bhopal tragedy and that dismissed transnational litigation in the American jurisdiction illustrated that we all have a fiduciary and custodianship role to secure health and environment safety for future generations. Thus, we argue that the doctrine of forum non conveniens may have no place in the present times of transnational corporate liability and misconduct against the local and global environment. The Indian government being defeated by a defunct doctrine in the mid-80s illustrates forum non conveniens as a doctrine of anachronistic nature in the times of climate change.