The Hindu : New Delhi News : After ten long years of sorrow and dejection...

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Thursday, Nov 22, 2007
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New Delhi

After ten long years of sorrow and dejection...

Prashant Pandey

For the families of the 59 victims who died in the Uphaar cinema fire in 1997, it has been a tough battle to fight

“We wanted to do something for our children but were not sure how to go about it”
“Such was the system that the victims were made to feel like the accused”

NEW DELHI: It took more than 3,800 days for the verdict to be out in the Uphaar fire tragedy case. But those who fought the protracted legal battle all these years were well aware of what and who they were up against. And they also knew the importance of coming together and sticking together in the form of the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT).

When the tragedy struck on June 13, 1997, the families of the 59 victims who died were shocked, saddened and outraged. “By the end of the 13-day rites we wanted to do something for our children but were not sure how to go about it,” recalls Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, one of the two prominent members of AVUT, the other being his wife Neelam Krishnamoorthy.

They then happened to contact senior lawyer K. T. S. Tulsi. “He warned us that we were going to fight against a powerful builder lobby and a sluggish government machinery and it required that we come together. We began with nine families,” said Mr. Krishnamoorthy.

An advertisement was placed in newspapers asking the families of the victims to join the Association and soon 27 families had joined it.

“After I joined the Association, I have been wherever Madam (Ms. Krishnamoorthy) has asked me to be,” said Vikas who was 14 when his father Kishan Lal, a mechanic, died in the tragedy. Vikas was forced to drop out of school and has now managed to open a shop with a little help from the compensation money.

As soon as the legal battle began, the worst fears of money power influencing the criminal judicial process began coming true. “I was told openly that I would not be allowed to enter the court. They [the accused] used all possible measures to blunt our efforts to get justice and, in fact, delay the entire judicial process itself,” said Ms. Krishnamoorthy.

She said such was the system that the accused behaved like king while the victims were often made to feel as if they were the accused.

The accused also questioned the locus standi of the Association as it was a case between the State through the Central Bureau of Investigation and the accused. However, AVUT got a reprieve when the Supreme Court allowed it to assist the prosecution during the trial.

It was then time to keeping the legal battle going. A few years after the tragedy, the case was almost consigned to the backburner.

But AVUT approached the Delhi High Court in 2002 which directed the lower court to conclude the trial within a set time frame.

However, the trial continued to drag and the Association again had to petition the High Court this year for speeding it up. Finally, the results bore fruit and on Tuesday the first milestone was achieved.

Moments after the verdict was pronounced, Ms. Krishnamoorthy broke down in the courtroom even as her husband tried to console her.

Durga Das, a member of the AVUT who irons clothes for a living, stood nearby with tears welling up in his eyes. He pulled out a wallet from his pocket and kissed the photograph of his son Ravi who would have been 28 years old now.

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