BackSC grants early hearing of Uphaar theatre fire case review
Chief justice T.S. Thakur directed that the case to be listed anytime after two weeks
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to grant an early hearing to review its September 2015 decision to not impose a jail term on the Ansal brothers for a 1997 fire in Uphaar cinema hall in New Delhi.
The kin of one of the victims of the fire tragedy, Neelam Krishnamoorthy, approached the top court to fasttrack the review to be conducted in open court. Chief justice T.S. Thakur directed that the case to be listed anytime after two weeks.
On 18 August, a bench comprising justices Anil Dave, Kurien Joseph and Adarsh Kumar Goel convicted septuagenarians Sushil and Gopal Ansal of criminal negligence and fined them ₹ 30 crore each with no jail term.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (Avut) moved the Supreme Court in November seeking review of its verdict.
The court had accepted the argument of advocate Ram Jethmalani that the Ansal brothers be spared prison considering their age and the fact that they had already served their sentence partially. While Sushil Ansal spent over five months in prison, Gopal Ansal was in jail for over four months immediately after the tragedy.
Fifty-nine people, trapped in the balcony of the Uphaar theatre in South Delhi, had died of asphyxia following the fire and over 100 were injured in the subsequent stampede on 13 June, 1997 during the screening of Bollywood film Border.
Lawyer K.T.S. Tulsi who appeared for the deceased victim’s family told the court that further delay in the long drawn legal is not desirable.
The court is yet to decide a date for hearing.
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