Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: September 3, 2022 at 18:11 IST
A plea before the Delhi High Court gave reference to the cases of Father Stan Swamy and former Haryana Chief Minister OP Chautala to argue that courts have denied them bail despite their older age [AVUT v. State of NCT Delhi] and challenged the release of the Ansal brothers in the Uphaar tragedy evidence tampering case on the grounds of their age.
The Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) has filed a revision petition that will be considered by Justice Asha Menon on September 5 and which contests the order made by Principal District and Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma on July 19.
A Delhi magistrate court sentenced the Ansals to seven years in prison and a fine of 2.25 crore in November 2021 for tampering with evidence in the fire catastrophe case. The sessions court sentenced Gopal and Sushil Ansal to the time already served and ordered their release in July of this year, much to the victims’ dismay.
Gopal and Sushil Ansal’s sentences were adjusted by Judge Sharma because she believed they were unjustly harsh and retaliatory in nature. This was done to help them learn a lesson.
The Court also rejected the Ansal brothers’ appeals at the same time.
AVUT argued before the High Court, “Indian Courts have denied bail to many accused persons in their old age, one example being that of Father Stan Swamy among others to whom the benefit of old age was not given. OP Chautala was another example. Therefore the Principal District and Session Judge erred in reducing the sentence of all the convicts due to the old age of the two convicts.”
Therefore, AVUT sought that the magistrate court’s original punishment of seven years be restored. Following their conviction and sentencing by the trial court, the Ansals and other defendants have essentially spent nearly 8 months in prison.
Other defendants, PP Batra, Dinesh Chandra Sharma, and Singh, received the same prison sentence but were also each given a 3 lakh fine.
The case is related to a fire that occurred at Delhi’s Uphaar Cinema on June 13, 1997, which claimed 59 lives and wounded numerous others. After conducting its investigation, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet against Sushil Ansal, Gopal Ansal, and other accused.
In 2003, the Court ordered an inquiry when some documents pertaining to the Uphaar tragedy case vanished from the court record room. The court employee was fired after the investigation was dismissed.
