My Request as a Mother

On August 19, 2015, I stood outside the Supreme Court of India, distraught and bereft of hope, tears streaming down my face as I spoke to the media. I had just been robbed of my only hope to find justice for the killing of my children Ujjwal and Unnati who had perished in the fire at Uphaar Cinema, New Delhi on June 13, 1997.

Suffering with me were 28 families who had lost a total of 59 loved ones in the same fire. From 1997 to 2015, we believed the judicial system in the country would help us get justice. Our belief was strengthened when the owners of Uphaar Cinema, Sushil and Gopal Ansal were convicted and sentenced to jail in 2014 by the Supreme Court.

However, since the two-judge bench could not come to a unanimous decision on the quantum of sentence, the matter was referred to a three-judge bench. We had waited for 17 years for the verdict, so at this point a further delay did not surprise us or shock us. But what has shocked us, and I believe several others in the country, was the verdict which was delivered on August 19, 2015.

The Ansal brothers were permitted to walk free without serving any time in jail if they paid a penalty of 30 crores each. They were permitted to buy 59 lives including those of my children for 60 crores. The penalty was to be paid to the Delhi Government for a trauma center, which already existed.

Please join me and members of the families of the victims to protest against this injustice on September 12, 2015 at 5 pm at Jantar Mantar as we protest peacefully and hold a candlelight vigil for our loved ones. Help us make this city safer for your children and loved ones.

Remember Uphaar.

(Neelam Krishnamoorthy's son and daughter were among 59 people who died in a fire at Uphaar, a Delhi cinema, in 1997)

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