By IANS
New Delhi : The manager and gatekeeper of the Uphaar theatre, convicted for the Uphaar theatre fire that claimed 59 lives in 1997, Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court, challenging their seven-year sentences.
Ajit Chaudhary, manager, and Manmohan Unniyal, gatekeeper, were sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment by a lower court on Nov 23 last year.
Justice H.R. Malhotra of the high court posted the next hearing Jan 30, when the bail applications of all other accused would be taken up.
Meanwhile, the high court adjourned till Jan 25 the revision petition of Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) demanding enhancement of punishment to owners of the theatre, real estate tycoon-brothers Sushil and Gopal Ansal, two Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials S.S. Sharma and N.D. Tiwari, and Delhi Fire Service official H.S. Panwar.
Senior advocate K.T.S. Tulsi, appearing for AVUT, said there was enough evidence for convicting the Ansal brothers and the three others under Section 304 Part II (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which attracts maximum punishment of 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment.
A trial court had convicted 12 people for the death of 59 people during the screening of Hindi blockbuster “Border” at Uphaar 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.
The Ansal brothers’ application demanding the release of their passports in the lower court could not be entertained after the judge expressed her inability to pass any order as the case record was in the high court.