Uphaar cinema case:Delhi High Court rejects Ansal brothers’ plea

The Delhi High Court of Justice Subramonium Prasad in his judgement today dismissed the petition of Ansal brothers.

"This court dismisses the petition filed by the Anasal brothers in the case," Justice Prasad of the Delhi High Court, today, in his judgement said. Ansal brothers and another convicted person Anoop Singh Karayat, had moved the Delhi High Court and pleaded it for suspension of the seven-year sentence, after a Sessions Court in the city dismissed their plea for suspension of sentence.

The plea of Anasal brothers was opposed by the Delhi Police and Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT).

Sushil and Gopal Anasal, the owners of Uphaar Cinema had moved the Delhi High Court against the sessions court order of not suspending their sentence in the 1997 Uphaar cinema hall evidence tampering case.

"As far as Ansal brothers are concerned, I am rejecting their application,” said Justice Prasad, in his verdict.

Last year, Ansals and former court staff Dinesh Chand Sharma and two others- PP Batra and Anoop Singh Karayat- were awarded seven-year jail term by a trial court and the sessions court had refused to suspend the sentence.

The tampering was detected for the first time on July 20, 2002, and when it was unearthed, a departmental enquiry was initiated against Sharma and he was suspended. Later an inquiry was conducted and he was terminated from services on June 25, 2004.

The Uphaar Cinema fire tragedy was one of the worst fire tragedies in India. The fire started on Friday, 13 June 1997, at Uphaar Cinema in Green Park, in South Delhi during the three o'clock (Matinee show) screening of the Hindi blockbuster movie, Border. Fifty-nine people were trapped inside and died of asphyxiation, while 103 were seriously injured in the resulting stampede.