Trial By Fire: Uphaar And A Fight Against The Odds
A massive blaze, 59 deaths, nearly two decades, and no one in jail. After several years of repeated adjournments and agony for the victims' families, in 2015, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, let the Ansal brothers, builder-owners of the Uphaar Cinema in New Delhi, walk free - they were 'too old for jail'. Inquiries showed how the Ansals had violated a number of fire code violations and safety standards. Instead, all they had to pay was Rs 30 crore each as compensation. Now, the parents of two teenage children who died in the terrible fire, Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamurthy have written a book detailing their travails, and it offers a glimpse into how in an overburdened justice system like India's, the powerful get away.
