File picture of the Uphaar tragedy
Sushil Ansal, owner of the Uphaar Cinema hall, which was burnt 15 years ago, killing 59 people, today apologised to Neelam Krishnamurthy, who had lost both her children in the tragedy.
In December 2008, the Delhi High Court had sentenced Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal, owners of the south Delhi theatre to one-year prison term. They were released on bail within a month.
According to the Press Trust of India, when a bench comprising Justices T S Thakur and Gyan Sudha Mishra was hearing a matter related to the case today, Mr Ansal stood up and apologised with folded hands for the loss of lives.
Mrs Krishnamurthy, resident of the Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT), along with the families of other victims have been fighting for justice in court. "We want sentence dealt; so such an incident isn't repeated," she said today.
She said this is for the first time in 15 years that the Ansals have apologised for the incident, adding in the past she had received threats and intimidation for pursuing the case and the accused also indulged in tampering the evidence.
On June 13, 1997, during the screening of Hindi film "Border", a fire engulfed the theatre, killing 59 people and injuring over 100 in the subsequent stampede. The fire was sparked by a blast in a transformer in an underground parking lot in the five-storey building which housed the cinema hall and several offices.
(With PTI inputs)