The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the review petition filed by the CBI and the victims’ association in the Uphaar fire tragedy case.
The petitioners have asked the Supreme Court to review its verdict which ordered no jail term for Ansals.
On 6 November, the CBI had sought the Supreme Court asking for a recall of its order letting off the Ansal brothers - Sushil and Gopal. The court had granted relief to the brothers upon paying Rs 30 crore each, coupled with the sentence they have already served for the 1997 fire tragedy in the Uphaar cinema owned by them.
A bench of Justice Anil R Dave, Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel on August 19 had let off the Ansal brothers and in their reasoned order of 22 September. The bench said that the magnitude of the Uphaar fire tragedy may call for “higher sentence” but it could not go beyond the choices under the law.
On 13 June 1997, 59 people had died as they could not leave the burning cinema due to blocked exits.
The CBI in its review plea has contended:
The apex court in its 22 September order had said:
The CBI in its review plea said,
The trial court on November 20, 2007, had convicted the Ansal brothers and others and sentenced them to two years jail each but the high court by its December 19, 2008, verdict convicted them under a different section of the Indian Penal Code and reduced their sentence to one year each.
(With inputs from IANS.)
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