Uphaar Cinema Fire: SC Sends Owner Gopal Ansal to Jail for a Year

The kin of the victims are not happy with the verdict and feel cheated by the judiciary.

The melee around Uphaar Cinema. (Photo: Reuters)

Uphaar cinema owner Gopal Ansal, who has been sent to jail by the Supreme Court, will have to surrender within a month.

His brother Sunil Ansal has already undergone his jail sentence.

The review petitions of Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) and CBI were not allowed by the Supreme Court.

We have been let down very badly, it was a futile exercise. The rich and powerful enjoy special powers.

Neelam Krishnamoorthy, AVUT

“We are extremely disappointed. Feel like coming to court was the biggest mistake of my life,” said Kritshnamoorthy.

We don’t give a damn about the trauma centre. I should have shot these people the day my children died.

On 13 June 1997, 59 people lost their lives when the Uphaar theatre in Delhi’s Green Park caught fire during the screening of the film Border. The theatre was shut from the outside and people died of asphyxiation. Over 100 people were also injured in a stampede that followed.

In 2015, the Supreme Court had ruled that the Ansals would not be jailed, but would need to pay a fine of Rs 30 crore each, which they said is not excessive, on Thursday.

(With inputs from ANI, PTI)