Uphaar fire: Ansals fined Rs 60 crore, escape further jail term

During the screening of the film 'Border' in 1997, people who were trapped in the balcony of the theatre, died of asphyxia following the fire

Real estate barons Sushil and Gopal Ansal on Wednesday escaped being sentenced to  a jail term in the 18-year-old Uphaar Cinema fire tragedy in which 59 people died, with the Supreme Court asking them to pay a fine of Rs 30 crore each, restricting their jail term to the period already undergone by them.

Overturning the pleas of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the victims’ association, a three-judge Bench asked them to pay a fine of Rs 60 crore in three months and deposit it with the Delhi government, which will spend the money on welfare schemes.

While Sushil had spent about five months in prison, Gopal was in jail for about four months immediately after the tragedy.

The Bench rejected the submissions of senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for CBI, that the convicts be sent to jail to serve the remaining part of the sentence awarded by the high court. “My instruction from CBI is to press for their custody,” Salve said, when the court sought his views.

Senior advocate K T S Tulsi, who represented the Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy, said the convicts should not only be jailed but their punishment should be enhanced.

Fifty-nine people, trapped in the balcony of the cinema in South Delhi, had died of asphyxia following the fire and more than 100 were injured in the subsequent stampede on June 13, 1997, during the screening of Bollywood film Border. Earlier, a Bench had on March 5, 2014, held real estate barons guilty, but differed on the quantum of the sentence to be awarded.