Uphaar cinema fire: Delhi HC seeks Delhi Police, victims’ association’s responses on Gopal Ansal’s passport renewal plea

As many as 59 people were killed in the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire tragedy. A magisterial court in 2021 convicted the Ansal brothers, Sushil and Gopal, and awarded them seven-year jail terms, besides imposing a fine of Rs 2.25 crore on each.

Inside the charred Uphaar cinema. (Express Archive)

3 min readNew DelhiJan 11, 2023 07:29 AM IST First published on: Jan 10, 2023 at 06:17 PM IST

The Delhi High Court Tuesday sought responses from the Delhi Police and the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy on a plea moved by 74-year-old real estate tycoon Gopal Ansal seeking renewal of his passport for a period of 10 years.

A single judge bench of Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani, while issuing a notice to the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT), a registered society formed in the wake of the 1997 fire tragedy in Delhi, referred to a 2022 judgment of the Supreme Court in Jagjeet Singh & Ors. v. Ashish Mishra wherein “a victim has been accorded a right of hearing in criminal proceedings”. As many as 59 people were killed in the Uphaar cinema fire.

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The counsel appearing for AVUT opposed Ansal’s renewal plea before the HC. The court directed that AVUT be supplied with a copy of the plea. The matter is next listed on March 23.

Ansal argued before the HC that his passport be renewed for a period of 10 years, which he contended is the normal validity on an ordinary passport.

“The record shows that vide order 10-08-2021 ld. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate had directed that the court had no objection if the petitioner’s passport is renewed as per rules and procedure which it appears is permitted for a period of one year for persons facing trial or appellate proceedings in criminal proceedings,” the court noted.

A magisterial court in 2021 convicted the Ansal brothers Sushil and Gopal and other accused under Sections 201 (tampering of evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code and awarded seven-year jail terms to the Ansals, besides imposing a fine of Rs 2.25 crore on each.

The passport renewal plea was filed in a pending petition of Gopal Ansal where he has sought setting aside of the conviction and sentence for tampering with evidence. AVUT’s plea for enhancement of the punishment awarded to the convicts in the evidence tampering case is also pending before the High Court.

The Sessions Court on July 19, 2022, upheld the conviction order of the Ansal brothers and two others. The court, however, reduced the duration to the period they had already been jailed since November 8, 2021.

AVUT, in its plea, has said that the decision of the Sessions Court on the sentence is contrary to the established principles of law and also ignores the “conduct and criminal antecedents” of the convicts. “Through their acts, the accused have tried to meddle with the functioning of the judicial system and the impugned judgment fails to appreciate the gravity of the offences committed by them,” reads the petition.

Prior to the Sessions Court’s decision to release the Ansal brothers, a single bench of the Delhi High Court in February 2022, refused to suspend their sentence. Justice Subramonium Prasad had observed that the brothers have been convicted of an “extremely serious offence” that can “shake the confidence” of the public in the judicial system.