The long wait of justice for victims of the Uphaar Cinema fire tragedy seemed to have no end as the Supreme Court on Wednesday gave a divided verdict on the punishment to be meted out to Ansal brothers, pushing the matter before a three judge Bench.
With no time frame fixed for re-hearing of the case, the Bench of Justices TS Thakur and Gyan Sudha Mishra allowed the bail bonds against the accused Gopal Ansal and Sushil Ansal to continue till a three-judge Bench was to decide whether punishment for a gruesome tragedy such as this incident was, had to be two years as fixed by trial court or one-year, as modified later by the Delhi High Court.
Over 59 people watching the noon show at Uphaar cinema in South Delhi lost their lives after a fire erupted from the transformer of the hall on June 13, 1997.Though the apex court upheld the conviction of Ansals and held them guilty of causing death due to gross negligence, Justice Thakur refused to enhance punishment.Justice Mishra, on the other hand, held the view that the incident in the Capital shocked the country and deserved maximum punishment of two years.
She gave Sushil Ansal benefit of his advanced age and ordered his release while for Gopal, Justice Mishra gave an option that instead of spending an additional year in prison, the accused together may pay a hefty fine of Rs 100 crore towards construction of a super specialty trauma centre in Delhi’s Dwarka. In view of the conflicting views, Ansals’ petition to reclaim theatre was also sent to the three-judge Bench.