Back
Front Page
Two-year RI for Ansal brothers
Sushil Ansal (second from right) after the judgment in the Uphaar case at the Patiala House Court, in New Delhi on Friday.
NEW DELHI: A sessions court here on Friday sentenced cinema owners Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal to two-year rigorous imprisonment, the maximum term for causing death due to negligence, in the 1997 Uphaar fire tragedy case.
While three other convicts, guilty of negligence, were handed out identical sentences, seven other accused were sentenced to seven-year RI for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The court also slapped a fine of Rs. 5,000 each and two-year RI on all the 12 accused, as they were found guilty of endangering the personal safety of others. Both sentences will run concurrently. The court fined the Ansals Rs.1,000 each for violating Section 14 of the Cinematography Act.
It directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to look into the role of the then Deputy Commissioner of Police (Licensing) Amod Kanth, in permitting retention of extra seats in the cinema hall in spite of the Lieutenant-Governor withdrawing a notification in that regard earlier. The CBI should also investigate the role of other officials who had been giving temporary licence to Uphaar for 17 years.
After the pronouncement of the sentence, the wife of one of the convicts, N. S. Chopra, began shouting, and she approached and threatened the convener of Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy Neelam Krishnamoorthy. She was then taken out of the courtroom.
Another convict Ajit Chaudhary also shouted, saying he would be out of jail within a month. Both Chopra and Chaudhary have been sentenced to seven-year RI.
On a complaint lodged by Ms. Krishnamoorthy, the judge asked the Station House Officer to look into the matter.
© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu