A Delhi court Monday awarded 7-year jail terms to real estate barons Sushil and Gopal Ansal for tampering with evidence in the 1997 case of Uphaar cinema fire which had claimed 59 lives.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma also imposed a fine of Rs 2.25 crore each on the Ansals.
Besides, the court awarded 7-year-jail term each to former court staff Dinesh Chand Sharma and two others — PP Batra and Anoop Singh — in the case and imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh each on the them.
“After thinking over nights and nights, I have come to the conclusion that they deserve punishment,” the judge said.
He said the circumstances during which the instant crime was committed showed the deep disrespect which the convicts had for the law and the judicial process and for the victims.
“The foundation of judiciary is premised on the trust and confidence of the people and any action which is aimed to thwart the said foundation cannot be permitted and is required to be dealt with utmost strictness,” it said.
It said the sentencing in the case must respond to the cry of the society.
While imposing fine on the convicts, the court noted that the DSLSA (Delhi State Legal Services Authority) had suggested in the Victim Impact Report (VIR) that victims had suffered “incalculable harm” and the quantum of compensation also proposed was “incalculable”.
The fine was imposed after analysing the income proofs submitted by the convicts.
The court held that the Ansals were better placed in terms of financial capacity than others to provide compensation to the victims.
The court said that the amount of fine imposed on each convict will be paid as compensation to the victim AVUT, after disbursing the cost incurred by the prosecution.
“Since no amount of compensation can alleviate the agony, trauma and the pain suffered by the family members of the victims, however, compensation in the form of money can provide some succour to them,” the judge said.
Rejecting convicts’ plea seeking mercy, the court said that misplaced sympathy or unwarranted leniency will sent a wrong signal to the public giving room to suspect the institutional integrity and would affect its creditability.
Inadequate sentence would do more harm to the justice system and would undermine the public confidence in the efficacy of the law as society could not long endure such assaults on the justice system, it said.