A plea by Uphaar victims' for harsher punishment for convicted theatre owners was referred to the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court for clubbing it with the convicts' appeal.
NEW DELHI: A plea by Uphaar victims' families for harsher punishment for convicted theatre owners-Sushil and Gopal Ansal -- on Wednesday was referred to the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court for clubbing it with the convicts' appeal against the trial court's judgment.
The petition of All Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT), filed against two-years' term awarded to the Ansal brothers and three others for criminal negligence, was referred to Chief Justice's court by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul.
The order came after senior advocate K T S Tulsi, appearing for AVUT, submitted that several appeals, filed by convicts including the Ansal brothers, were being heard by another court presided by Justice H R Malhotra and this petition be referred to the Chief Justice for clubbing it with them.
The petition is likely to come up for hearing on Thursday.
The AVUT alleged the trial court had erred in convicting the cinema owners and three others under milder penal provision dealing with criminal negligence despite the fact that there was enough evidence to sentence them under section 304 part II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC, which attracts a maximum punishment of 10 years' jail.
"The judgement alongwith evidence adduced during trial conclusively establishes that convicts had ample knowledge that their acts of omission and commission, was likely to cause death of patrons visiting the cinema, as such the ingredients of the offence under section 304 part II IPC stood satisfied," the petition alleged.
Seeking enhancement of punishment awarded to Ansal brothers, the AVUT alleged that they were at the helm of affairs of theatre when the incident took place.
The petitioner also alleged they had carried out structural deviations for increasing the seating capacity with prior knowledge that their acts may result in such a disaster.
"The trial court has conclusively arrived at the finding in its verdict that the structural deviations made at the balcony, which became the death-bed for many innocent persons, were carried with the consent and knowledge of the convicts...,in fact, they were directly responsible for the said deviations," it alleged.
The AVUT also sought enhancement of sentence awarded to two MCD officials S S Sharma and N D Tiwari and Delhi Fire Service staff H S Panwar, who alongwith the Ansal brothers were awarded two years jail term on the ground that their complicity in the offence was grave.
Meanwhile, the court headed by Justice H R Malhotra refused to grant bail to convict B M Satija, a former Delhi Vidyut Board official who is undergoing seven years' term, saying it wanted to hear the CBI submissions on the issue.
The court issued notice to the CBI and fixed the matter for February 15.
The trial court had convicted all the 12 accused under various provisions of the IPC for causing death of 59 cinegoers who were asphyxiated during the screening of a Hindi blockbuster 'Border' inside Uphaar cinema on June 13, 1997.
Apart from the Ansal brothers and three others who were sentenced to two years' imprisonment, seven others were sentenced to seven years' jail.
Radha Krishan Sharma, N S Chopra, Ajit Chowdhary (Uphaar managers), Manmohan Unniyal (cinema's gatekeeper), Brij Mohan Satija, A K Gera and Bir Singh (all DVB officials were handed down seven years' jail term as they were convicted under harsher penal provisions as compared to the Ansal brothers.
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