Ex-Union Carbide officials sentenced over Bhopal leak

A court on Monday convicted seven Indian former employees of U.S. chemical firm Union Carbide of negligence and sentenced them to two years in jail for the world's worst industrial accident that killed thousands in 1984. Hundreds of protesters, many waving placards saying "hang the guilty" and "they are traitors of the nation," tried to force their way inside the court complex as a judgment for which activists have campaigned for a quarter-century was delivered. "Let us in. They may have been punished, but what about us? There are so many of us who have not received any compensation," said Shanta Bai, a gas victim. The government says around 3,500 people died after a Union Carbide plant in the central city of Bhopal accidentally released toxic gases into the air towards nearby slums.