Gopal Ansal surrenders before jail

Almost 20 years after a fire killed 59 people at South Delhi’s Uphaar Cinema, real-estate baron Gopal Ansal surrendered before Tihar jail authorities on Monday to complete the remainder of his one-year sentence. 

In a last-ditch effort to garner another extension, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani, representing Ansal, approached the Supreme Court on Monday morning — the day of his surrender, seeking a stay. Jethmalani told the apex court that Ansal needed more time to surrender since his mercy petition had been pending before President Pranab Mukherjee.

However, the Bench, led by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar, denied Ansal’s request and ordered him to surrender before 5 pm on Monday evening. “It is beyond our purview. We cannot grant you anything. Go and relay this to the President,” said Justice Khehar.

Ansal’s surrender, however, brought no cheer to the victims of the tragedy, who waited almost two decades for this day to arrive. “Justice came a little too late,” said Neelam Krishnamoorthy, who along with her husband Shekhar, has led the fight for justice after losing her teenage children in the 1997 fire. The Krishnamoorthys were disappointed that Gopal was awarded a mere one-year sentence, whereas his elder brother Sushil’s sentence was commuted due to his advanced age. The Ansal brothers were also asked to pay Rs 30 crore each to set up a trauma centre.

“The fight for justice was not worth the effort. If I knew it would take so long, and the brothers would get off so easily, I would have taken the other way out,” the mother said. On inquiring what the “other way” was, Krishnamoorthy said she would have rather shot the brothers and gladly accepted the consequences. “I’m sure, had I gone to jail for their murder, I would’ve served my sentence by now,” she added. 

The 20-year-old battle has exhausted the couple. “In our country, ordinary citizens have no value. I feel defeated and let down by the justice system,” said Krishnamoorthy.

“The Ansals have taken undue advantage of the court’s leniency,” he said.

Ansal (Gopal) was given so many extensions for this heinous crime, whereas AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala — the SC convicted her in a disproportionate assets case —was asked to surrender immediately for an economic offence, said Krishnamoorthy while drawing parallels and pointing out the lack of parity in both cases. 

Even now, hours after the real estate baron was lodged in prison, Krishnamoorthy still does not believe the case is over. “I have no idea what will happen next. I have to be prepared for anything,” she said. 

On June 13, 1997, a fire broke during the matinee show of the Bollywood film “Border” at Uphaar Cinema in South Delhi’s Green Park area. About 59 people asphyxiated and died, and more than 100 were injured.

The top court on February 9 had upheld the Rs 30-crore fine imposed on the brothers, though modifying their jail term. A SC bench led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, in a 2:1 majority, waived off 76-year-old Sushil’s (Gopal’s elder brother) sentence considering his age, while asking Gopal to surrender by March 9 to serve the remainder of his one-year jail term.

On March 9, Gopal had challenged his sentence and sought parity with his brother Sushil on medical grounds. Jethmalani had submitted that Gopal — like his brother was ill and deserved leniency. Jethmalani added that Gopal was suffering from a cerebral brain problem — which loosely translated to him losing his mind, and also submitted that Gopal was penniless and living on the largess and “charity of others.”

The apex court bench comprising of Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Kurian Joseph and AK Goel, dismissed all applications of review and had then awarded Gopal partial relief in allowing him 10 more days to surrender — the deadline for which was Monday.