New Delhi:
The Supreme Court will hear on Friday a plea by Gopal Ansal, 69, owner of the Uphaar cinema where 59 people were killed in a fire, to seek parity with his elder brother who was spared a jail term earlier this month because of his age.
The top court had, on February 9, held the two brothers guilty of causing death due to negligence but only sentenced Gopal Ansal to a year-long jail term for the 1997 fire and ordered him to surrender within four weeks.
The court didn't send his 77-year-old brother Sushil Ansal to jail due to his advanced age and counted the time he had spent behind bars earlier as his punishment.
Just a week ahead of his deadline to surrender ends, the younger Ansal brother claimed his health was more "brittle" than his brother and he suffered from age-related cerebral atrophy and a hearing impairment.
Supreme Court Chief Justice JS Khehar declined to give any relief on the "clarificatory" petition that called Gopal Ansal a victim of prejudice created in high political circles and the media.
"This will go before the same bench which passed the orders. You will have to wait," Chief Justice Khehar said.
The case has been listed for March 3.
Neelam Krishnamurthy, whose son and daughter died in the fire, said: "The court shouldn't have posted for hearing on Friday in open court. It should have been listed in chambers".
The Central Bureau of Investigation also opposed the plea to keep Mr Ansal out of jail, saying he had already cited the medical condition before the court gave its February 9 verdict.
The CBI also argued that there was no ground to file a petition to seek clarifications and Mr Ansal could only file a curative petition that lets an aggrieved person to seek correction of a verdict.