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The Delhi High Court Monday issued notice to real estate tycoons Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal on a petition filed by the victims’ association against a lower court’s decision to release them after they spent a little over eight months in jail in the evidence tampering case connected with the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire.
The high court also issued notice to the Delhi Police in connection with the decision.
While Ansals were sentenced to an imprisonment of seven years by the trial court, the sessions court in July reduced the duration to the period they had already been jailed.
Justice Asha Menon sought a response to a revision petition filed by the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy through advocate Raavi Sharma, and listed the matter for hearing on October 11.
During the hearing, the prosecution told the court they support the petition seeking restoration of the seven-year sentence and will file a separate appeal against the decision of early release.
During the case trial in 2003, the lower court was told that certain important documents related to the case were “missing/mutilated and had been tampered with”. The Delhi High Court later directed the Delhi Police to investigate the allegations of evidence tampering.
Last year, a lower court sentenced the Ansal brothers to seven years in prison for evidence tampering. The Sessions Court in appeal upheld the conviction but reduced their sentence.
In the revision petition filed before the high court, the association of victims has said that the decision of the Principal District & Sessions Judge on the sentence is contrary to the established principles of law and also ignores the “conduct and criminal antecedents” of the convicts. “Through their acts, the accused have tried to meddle with the functioning of the judicial system and the impugned judgement fails to appreciate the gravity of the offences committed by them,” reads the petition.
The plea further contends that for Ansal brothers, it was a second conviction and a repeat offence for which they deserve the maximum sentence. “This is a case which shatters the confidence of the public at large in the criminal justice system, it requires a maximum sentence so that it works as a deterrent for others who even dream of tampering with the court record in future,” added the association.
With regard to an observation of the sessions court about the kin of the victims, the association said, “it is highly disrespectful and insulting to record an observation against the victim suggesting that by initiating criminal process against the offenders, victims have taken an inhuman and vindictive approach. In fact, the judicial system should be thankful to such responsible members of the Society.”
Prior to the sessions court’s decision to release the Ansal brothers in July, a single bench of the Delhi High Court in February had refused to suspend their sentence. Justice Subramonium Prasad had observed the brothers have been convicted of an “extremely serious offence” that can “shake the confidence” of the public in the judicial system.
As many as 59 people were killed in the Uphaar cinema fire in June 1997.
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