The suit has been filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act which provides for civil remedies for criminal violation of international law by US based corporations, said Abdul Jabbar of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan one of the plaintiffs.

This is the first time a US court has been approached on behalf of the survivors of the infamous tragedy in which thousands of Bhopal residents had died and lakhs rendered physical and mental wrecks following a calamitous leakage of killer MIC gas from a Union Carbide pesticide factory in the city in December 1984.

Earlier in 1987 when the Union of India had tried to take the matter in the US courts, it was advised that India was the best place for the trial of the accused persons.

According to Jabbar, the decision to move a US federal court was taken when theorganisations representing the gas victims realised that the prosecution of the Union Carbide in Bhopal Chief Judicial Magistrate's court was proceeding at a snail's pace and former Carbide chief Anderson had successfully evaded a non-bailable warrant issued by the CJM for seven years.In its final judgment of October 1991, the Indian Supreme Court had held that criminal prosecution of Union Carbide and its high functionaries was essential to its approval of the settlement in the matter and failure to accomplish this would constitute a ``miscarriage of justice''.

The latest law suit has been filed by the New York based law firms Goodkind Labaton Rudolf and Sucharow, the law offices of Curtis V Trink and a Washington based advocacy group known as Earthrights International.The former is known for its legal victories in the case against Exxon for its Alaskan oil spill. Himanasu Ranjan Sharma, an attorney in this law firm, has been working on the preparation of the case for the last five years with the help ofIndian jurists and the organisations representing the gas victims.

Apart from claiming punitive damages, the law suit also wants that the US federal court should declare Union Carbide as well as its former Chief Anderson ``a fugitive from justice' for their deliberate evasion of the lawful jurisdiction of the Bhopal court where criminal charges are pending against them. The suit was filed on behalf of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Ugyod Sangathan, Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha and others.