1997 Uphaar cinema fire incident had claimed 59 lives. (File)
Highlights
- Curative petition filed by Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy
- Supreme Court says there's "no merit" in curative petition
- "No justice for ordinary citizens": Woman who lost her 2 children
A plea by the families of those who died in a fire at south Delhi's Uphaar theatre in 1997 to reopen the case has been dismissed by the Supreme Court. An association of the families had sought more jail time for the entrepreneur brothers Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal for negligence, leading to the horrific fire that killed 59, an incident that later came to be known as the Uphaar tragedy.
The curative petition filed by the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy has "no merit", a Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices NV Ramana and Arun Mishra said.
"We have gone through the curative petitions and the relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out.... Hence, the curative petition is dismissed," the bench said in its order.
The Ansal brothers were freed from jail in August 2015 on the condition that they pay a fine of Rs 30 crore each.
Two years later, the Supreme Court awarded jail term to Sushul Ansal, 78, which he had already served and gave him relief considering his "advanced age-related complications", news agency Press Trust of India reported.
On June 13, 1997, halfway through the screening of the war film "Border", a fire broke out in Uphaar cinema in south Delhi's Green Park. Over 100 were also injured in the stampede.
"For ordinary citizens, there is no justice. We showed faith and this was a mistake. It's only for the rich. You should organise public outrage or mount a media campaign to get justice, otherwise there's no justice for you," said Neelam Krishnamoorthy, who lost her two children in the fire.