Uphaar tragedy victims hold first public protest in 18 years

With a candlelight vigil and fiery speeches, the families of the Uphaar cinema fire victims held their first public protest in 18 long years, on Saturday in New Delhi. The kin of the 59 deceased raised their voices against two tragedies, the fire that killed their beloved ones, and the recent Supreme Court judgment that, they say, gave them no justice at all.

Put together by the Association of Victims of Uphaar Fire Tragedy (AVUT), founded by Neelam Krishnamoorthy who lost her son and daughter in the fire, the vigil was joined by Brinda Karat of the CPI(M), singer Shubha Mudgal who has been supporting them since 1997, AAP MLA Alka Lamba and Delhi state convenor Dilip Pandey, advocate Sanjay Hegde and activist Kavita Krishnan.

On 19 August, the Supreme Court held brothers Gopal and Sushil Ansal, builders of the ill-fated cinema hall in South Delhi, guilty of "criminal negligence", ordered them to pay Rs30 crore each but gave them no jail time. Previously, the Ansals had been given the maximum sentence of 2 years by a trial court, which was reduced to one by the Delhi High Court and completely done away with by the Supreme Court.

The judgement sent ripples of shock among the families, which had united under the banner of AVUT and fought the case for 18 years. Krishnamoorthy had said then that she wished she had picked up a gun against the Ansals; that she was tired and defeated. At Saturday's protest, she said her resolve to keep fighting was back but stuck by her wish to take up arms.

Declaring their loss of faith in the judiciary, Krishnamoorthy and other families tore apart the Supreme Court's reasoning that the Ansal, 67 and 76 years of age, were too old to be jailed. If Subrata Roy at 67 and OP Chautala at 80 could be jailed for economic offenses, then why not the Ansals, whose negligence had taken 59 lives, Krishnamoorthy demanded to know in her speech. On a big black banner AVUT had put up the pictures of the aged Ansals and the youngest victim of the fire, a month old baby girl Chetna.

Chetna died along with 6 others from her family, her mother and father, her aunt, uncle and two cousins. Her grandfather, Satya Pal Sudan, found out about his family's death on June 13, 1997, by watching the evening news, that said a cinema had caught fire and the bodies had been taken to All India Institute of Medical Sciences. They retrieved all seven bodies the next morning and cremated them in Mehrauli, a massive cremation ground that Sudan said was choc a bloc with people coming out to offer condolences.

Ajay Kumar lost his father and his then 16-year-old younger brother that day. He, then a 20-year-old had gone out for work when his mother, his two sisters, his father brother and a cousin went to watch the 3pm show of Border in Uphaar. "They read about the new renovated cinema in a magazine and wanted to see it," said Kumar. Later in the evening,her received a call from a policeman at AIIMS saying there had been a fire and his sister was in the ICU. The policeman knew nothing about his other family members. Kumar recounted how he went into absolute shock. He asked his neighbour to drive him down to AIIMS, while his uncle also came running.

"AIIMS was crazy that evening, there were so many people. I kept running up and down the stairs but couldn't find my family. " It was his uncle who discovered his father's body. "I refused to accept he was dead. At that moment I wanted to kill myself." said Kumar. Half an hour later his brother's body was found. His mother and younger sister were in the ICU for ten days and couldn't be told about the deaths.

Vikas Abhua, similarly, lost his father in the fire, when he was 13 and his younger brother was 6. His father and friend had said they were going to watch a movie in the Moti Nagar cinema, but ended up in Uphaar, where they were trapped in the balcony. After his father's death, Abhua had to leave school and start working. None of his siblings could complete their education.

What galled the families was how the verdict seemed to have substituted money for justice; that the rich could pay their way through taking people's lives. Karat said that the case had been diluted from the beginning, when it was registered under 'rash and negligent act', instead of 'culpable homicide'. All the speakers said that AVUT's fight was not for their personal gain but for ensuring safety in public spaces. Krishnamoorthy called out to all present to join in this fight, so that future tragedies could be prevented.

Those who had been present throughout the trial talked about how the Ansals' would be given five star treatment in the court, till Krishnamoorthy complained to the judge, and how the trail was stretched to benefit the brothers.
Lamba and Pandey both reiterated Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's promise to try and decline the Supreme Court ordered compensation, which many called blood stained money.

At the moment, the families have filed a revision petition against the Supreme Court order, and Krishnamoorthy is fighting another case alleging harassment and intimidation on the part of the Ansals.