On Monday (November 8), a Delhi court sentenced the Ansal brothers, namely, Gopal and Sushil Ansal, to 7 years imprisonment on charges of evidence tampering in the infamous 1997 Uphaar fire tragedy case.
The court also imposed a fine of ₹2.25 crores each against the two businessmen. The duo was convicted under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (evidence tampering), and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant). Besides, three others namely, P P Batra, Anoop Singh and Dinesh Chand Sharma were also held guilty.
Delhi’s Patiala House Court has imposed a fine of Rs2.25 crores each against Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal in the case related to tampering with the evidence in the 1997 Uphaar fire tragedy case.
— TOI Delhi (@TOIDelhi) November 8, 2021
While handing out the quantum of punishment, Central Metropolitan Judge Pankaj Sharma conceded that it was one of the biggest cases of his career. He informed that he thought about the case on several nights and realised that the accused deserved punishment. The Judge noted that the Ansal brothers destroyed key evidence that established their complicity in the Uphaar fire tragedy case.
The Court pointed out that the accused scuttled the trial process and fiddled with the judiciary with great impunity. Judge Sharma also added that the Ansal brothers and the other accused “attacked on the very purity and sanctity of the justice system” under the false belief that they will get away with their crime.
Uphaar fire tragedy case and aftermath
On June 13, 1997, a fire broke out during the matinee screening of the movie ‘Border’ at Uphaar cinema, which was located in South Delhi. Due to a lack of proper safety measures, a whopping 59 people died of suffocation (asphyxia). Around 100 people were injured in the stampede resulting from the chaos. A month later, the crime branch of Delhi police arrested theatre owner Sushil Ansal and his son Pranav from Mumbai. The case was then transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from the Delhi police.
In November that year, the CBI filed a chargesheet against 16 people including the Ansal brothers. The trial began two years later in March 1999 in a Sessions court. On February 27, 2001, the sessions court framed charges against the accused under IPC Sections 304, 304A, and 337. In April 2002, the Delhi High Court asked the trial court to conclude the hearing of the case by December 15, 2002.
A year later, the Ansal brothers sought re-possession of Uphaar theatre. But their plea was rejected on the ground that it is a key piece of evidence. In April 2003, the Delhi High Court in a landmark decision asked the Ansal brothers to pay ₹18 crores in compensation to the kin of the deceased. However, the case made little progress in the following 3 years. It was only on November 20, 2007 (after 10 years of the incident) that 12 accused including the Ansal brothers were sentenced to 2 years imprisonment by the trial court.
Within a span of 1.5 months, the Delhi High Court granted bail to Sushil and Gopal Ansal. In September 2008, the Ansal brothers were sent to Tihar jail after their bail plea was cancelled by the Supreme Court. In December that year, Delhi High Court reduced the sentence of the Ansal brothers from 2 years to 1 year. A petition was filed before the Supreme Court by The Association of Victims of Uphaar Fire Tragedy (AVUT) for increasing punishment of the accused. However, no progress happened on that front till 2013.
In March 2014, the Supreme Court gave a split verdict on the quantum of sentence to be served by the Ansals. One Judge had awarded one year sentence while another judge awarded them the sentence that has been already served. The matter was then referred to a 3-Judge Bench. On August 19, 2015, the Supreme Court released the Ansal brothers on the condition that they both pay ₹30 crores each as fine and build trauma centre in Delhi.
In 2017, the Supreme Court asked Gopal Ansal to complete his remaining one year sentence while Sushil was given relief, keeping in mind his old age. On November 8, 2021, the Ansals were sentenced to 7 years imprisonment for evidence tampering and penalised ₹2.5 crores each.
