The Uphaar Cinema fire victims moved the Delhi high court on Monday seeking an order to a lower court for a day-to-day trial of a case against theatre owners for allegedly tampering with the evidence in the 1997 incident in which 59 people were killed.
Justice Veena Birbal issued a notice to the Delhi police and sought a status report about the case before a trial court on a petition filed by the Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy seeking speedy trial of the case against Gopal Ansal and his brother Sushil Ansal and a court staff Dinesh Gupta pending since 2006.
In the plea, the victims said “because tampering and mutilation of a judicial file is an egregious offence against the entire justice delivery system and as such the case (titled State vs Dinesh Chandra Sharma) deserves to be tried expeditiously in a time-bound manner with utmost priority on a day-to-day basis.”
Referring to various dates of proceedings in the trial court, they said “the offence was committed by the Ahlmad of the court, allegedly at the behest of the accused persons (Ansals) along with others. Till date, even arguments on charge on behalf of the prosecution have not been concluded due to frequent adjournments sought by the defence counsels.”
“Criminal justice cannot be allowed to be defeated solely on account of inaction or lapses of the court in adhering to the mandates of law,” the plea said.