New Delhi: The verdict in the Uphaar Cinema Case came after 10 years of agonising wait, but it only added to the agony of the kin of Uphaar victims who had fought a relentless battle for justice all these years.
"For taking the life of a chinkara, they give five years jail. And when 59 people die, you give years. What kind of justice is this?" asked Neelam Krishnamoorthi, who lost two of her children in the fire. "We will move the High Court against the verdict," she said.
Krishnamoorthi said the fight is still not over. "I think I'll still have to go a long way. Giving them two years jail is actually a travesty of justice. They (Ansals) are now saying they have nothing to do with Uphaar," she pointed out.
Kanwaljeet Bhalla, who lost her husband, said, “Our trust on the judiciary has grown."
She recalled, “There was chaos, it was like a stampede. There was utter darkness, no emergency light, no announcements. My husband suddenly left my daughter's hand, saying he will find some way out, and he never came back. I found out only the next morning that he had died just before he was to be cremated.”
Harish Salve, the counsel for CBI, also demanded that the Ansals be charged under 304(B), not just 304(A), under which the maximum sentence is imprisonment for 10 years.
"Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will know what is the quantum of punishment they are going to get. We are still waiting for the judgement on Wednesday," Mr Sahni, who lost his daughter in the fire, said. "Definitely, we will wait for the High Court and we will go to the Supreme Court," he said.
PAGE_BREAK
The kin of another victim, KTS Tulsi, is however relieved with the court verdict. "We feel happy at the victory of justice. All over the country, they must give up the culture of playing with safety norms. It's a matter of regret that they were not charged with culpabable homicide," he said.
Mr Krishnamurti, who lost his young son and daughter, said it was a "bit of satisfaction but as far as Sushil and Gopal Ansal are concerned, we are very unhappy."
Rajinder Rahi, who lost his 21-year-old son, said he is not happy. "We are not happy, because we have lost already. We cannot get back these people. If at all, we are happy because the message will go out that nobody will do such things in the future."
Rahi said that those fighting the legal battle "actually have no personal enmity with anybody." "We are just fighting this case because of the failure of the system," he said.
Prosecuting counsel Prem Kumar said the punishment for those held guilty cannot be more that seven years in jail. "They have been found guilty under Sections 394(A), 333 and 338, under which the punishment is from 2 to 7 years. The punishment can't be more than this. This is the maximum punishment," he said.
The counsel for the Ansals, J K Srivastava, maintained that his clients were innocent. "We have the right of appeal. We will exercise it but only after judgement. I still feel they are innocent."
Comments
0 comment