The Supreme Court on Friday refused to give immediate hearing to a plea of real estate baron Gopal Ansal — convicted in the Uphaar cinema fire tragedy — seeking its nod to visit London and New York on a business trip. A bench of justices J S Khehar and C Nagappan declined to hear Ansal’s plea and asked him to mention the matter next week before another vacation bench. The plea stated that Ansal needed to go to London to meet financers, investors, architects and to discuss investment proposals for 45 acres of land belonging to Ansal Buildwell Ltd and associate companies in Kumrakom, Kerala. The plea stated that Ansal would travel to London from June 16-20 and to New York from June 20-27. He said he would be back on June 28-29. The Ansal brothers — Sushil and Gopal — were convicted in the Uphaar cinema fire tragedy. The fire, which took place on June 13, 1997, during the screening of ‘Border’, had claimed 59 lives. On April 22, the apex court had restrained the two brothers from leaving the country without its permission. Meanwhile, families of victims on Friday gathered at Smriti Upavan in Green Park Extension, opposite the site of Uphaar cinema hall, and held a prayer meet to mark the 17th anniversary of the incident and demanded that a strong law be enacted to ensure punishment commensurate with the gravity of such man-made disasters. “We appeal to the Government of India to bring in a new legislation to deal with man-made disasters pending for past five years,” Neelam Krishnamoorthy, president of Association of Victims of the Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT), said. Krishnamoorthy had lost her two children in the tragedy. Though the apex court held the High Court order holding the Ansal brothers guilty in the case, judges had differed over the quantum of punishment and the matter was referred to a larger bench.
