The Hindu : New Delhi News : High Court to take up petition against Ansals

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High Court to take up petition against Ansals

Staff Reporter

Judge tells Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy

The Association has sought conviction of the accused under 304 of the Indian Penal Code
The Court would take up the matter after conclusion of the appeals filed by the accused

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday told the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy that it would take up for consideration its petition seeking enhancement of the two-year rigorous imprisonment sentence awarded to cinema hall owners Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal and three other convicts in the Uphaar fire tragedy case of June 1997.

The Court would take up the matter after conclusion of the appeals filed by the accused against their conviction by the trial court last year. Justice H. R. Malhotra mentioned this to the petitioner when the petition came up for hearing before him.

Appeals

The Court last week began hearing argument on the appeals on a day-to-day basis. At present, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani is arguing for Sushil Ansal.

The Association has sought conviction of the accused under 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code which provides for life imprisonment or imprisonment for ten years and fine.

The three other convicts are Har Swarup Panwar, Shyam Sunder Sharma and Narayan Dutt Tiwari. The petitioner said the trial court ought to have added Section 304 against all the accused and then tried them in accordance with the law.

Cinema’s balcony

The evidence on record also revealed that the accused had the requisite knowledge that their acts were likely to cause death to the visitors sitting in the cinema’s balcony in general and those sitting on the right of it in particular, the petition stated. 59 cinemagoers had lost their lives in the fire at Uphaar cinema on June 13, 1997.

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