A Delhi court on Wednesday deferred the pronouncement of verdict in the 10-year-old Uphaar fire tragedy which claimed 59 lives during the screening of Hindi film ‘Border’.
Additional Sessions Judge Mamta Sehgal said the court would decide the date for pronouncement of verdict in the case on October 22 as she had not gone through the complete voluminous records as yet.
A total of 12 accused, including theatre owners – Sushil and Gopal Ansal, charged with causing death by negligence on June 13, 1997, when the devastating fire at Uphaar killed 59 people, have been facing trial in the case.
Meanwhile, the court rejected the Ansal brothers’ plea to file additional arguments in the case in their defence.
The court said the accused had already been provided enough opportunity.
To this, the defence said, the accused have filed a fresh application along with other documents putting on record their plea for forwarding additional grounds to prove their innocence.
The court then said that the application in this regard would also be decided later and if any clarification is required while going through the judicial file, it would call the respective counsel.
The judge had reserved the case verdict on August 21. Four accused had died while trial was pending in the case in which CBI had examined 115 witnesses. The trial also witnessed some controversy when a court staff was dismissed from service for tampering with the court documents allegedly at the instance of the main accused.
All the accused have been charged with causing death by negligence and endangering lives under the IPC.
and relevant provisions of the Cinematography Act, 1952.
‘Denial of justice’
New Delhi, PTI: As a Delhi court deferred the verdict in the Uphaar fire tragedy, family members of the victims on Wednesday termed it as a “denial” of justice.
“I think it is a case of total denial of justice because if you get justice after 10-20 years then it is as good as a denial,” Neelam Krishnamurthy, President of ‘Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy’ said.
“If this is the way we are going to get justice, then... the final judgment will come when it goes to the Supreme Court,” she said.
“I really wonder whether we are going to be alive for another 20 years, when the verdict comes. If you get judgment after your death that is total denial of justice, it is not delayed justice,” Ms Krishnamurthy said.
Naveen Sahni, who also lost his teenaged daughter in the tragedy, said: "I am saddened but there are valid reasons for the adjournment as the case file runs into almost 50,000 pages."
