Legal Correspondent
New Delhi, August 19
In a major relief to real estate
barons Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal, the Supreme Court today reduced the
brothers’ one-year jail term in the Uphaar Cinema tragedy case to the period of
sentence already undergone by them — five months.
As many as 59 people had died of
suffocation following an accidental fire during the screening of Hindi movie
“Border” in the cinema hall here on June 13, 1997. A Bench headed by Justice
Anil R Dave delivered the verdict on the brothers’ appeal against the Delhi
High Court judgment sentencing them to one-year imprisonment.
The trial court had awarded two
years, but the HC reduced it to one year in 2008. The other members on the
Bench were Justices Kurian Joseph and Adarsh Kumar Goel.
The apex court, however, directed
them to pay a fine of Rs 60 crore within three months to the Delhi government,
which would utilise it for welfare schemes.
The SC ruling came after day-long
arguments by Ansal brothers’ senior counsel Ram Jethmalani, pleading that his
clients could not be held directly responsible for the fire accident. The case
had come to the Bench following a split verdict delivered by a two-judge SC
Bench on March 5, 2014.
While Justice TS Thakur had upheld
the HC verdict, Justice Gyan Sudha Misra (since retired) had reduced the
sentence of Sushil to the period already undergone and enhanced the term of
Gopal to two years.
The apex
court rejected the pleas of the CBI and the Association of Victims of Uphaar
Tragedy, represented by Harish Salve and KTS Tulsi, respectively, for at least
retaining the quantum of sentence, if not enhanced.
THE TRIBUNE
THE TRIBUNE
