NEW DELHI: The owners of Uphaar Cinema where India's one of the worst fire tragedies that killed 59 people occurred in 1997, have moved the Supreme Court on Monday seeking desealing of the Cinema.
Sushil and Gopal Ansal, the owners of Uphaar theatre in Green Park, Delhi, were held guilty of criminal negligence for the death of 59 people on June 13, 1997, when a fire engulfed the hall halfway through the screening of Hindi film ‘Border’. Over 100 were injured in the fire and the consequent stampede. The cinema hall has remained sealed since the fire tragedy.
In 2007, a trial court sentenced the Ansal brothers to two-year rigorous imprisonment but later the Delhi High Court reduced the sentence to one year. However, in 2015, the Supreme Court upheld their conviction in the case but asked the duo to pay a fine of Rs 30 crore each in lieu of a jail term considering their age and the period already spent by them in prison.