NEW DELHI, Apr 26:
Nearly 18 years after 59 cinegoers died of asphyxia in the massive fire that engulfed the Uphaar theatre here, victims’ families are still waiting for judicial closure of the case.
A bench of justices T S Thakur and Gyan Sudha Mishra (since retired), on March 5, 2014, had held real estate barons Sushil and Gopal Ansal guilty, but had differed on quantum of sentence to be awarded to them.
It had concurred in finding that there was contemptuous disregard of civic laws on the part of Ansals that led to the tragedy as they were more interested in making money than ensuring safety of people.
Justice Thakur concurred with the 2008 verdict of the Delhi High Court that had awarded one year jail terms to Sushil and Gopal Ansal.
However, Justice Mishra reduced the jail term to already undergone by Sushil considering his age and enhanced the sentence of Gopal to two years.
After that a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu has to hear afresh and authoritatively decide the case.
The matter came up for hearing on April 21, but was adjourned at the request of senior advocate L Nageshwar Rao, the counsel for Ansals.
“Now we are worried about how many more adjournments they will seek before the matter is actually heard and the victims get the judicial closure,” said Neelam Krishnamoorthy, President of Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT). (PTI)
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