Uphaar fire: Finish hearing appeal by Ansals by May 15, says Delhi high court

Last year, the Ansal brothers, former court staff member Dinesh Chand Sharma and two others -- P P Batra and Anoop Singh Karayat -- were awarded a seven-year jail term by a magisterial court.

The Delhi high court on Monday granted a city court time till May 15 to conclude hearing the appeals by real estate barons Sushil and Gopal Ansal against their conviction and sentence in the Uphaar fire tragedy evidence tampering case.

The order was passed on a plea by Sushil Ansal for an extension of the one-month deadline set by the high court in its February 16 order, in which the court had refused to suspend the seven-year jail term awarded to the Ansal brothers. (Representative image)

Last year, the Ansal brothers, former court staff member Dinesh Chand Sharma and two others -- P P Batra and Anoop Singh Karayat -- were awarded a seven-year jail term by a magisterial court. The sessions court had subsequently refused to suspend the sentence and release them on bail.

Justice Subramonium Prasad, who had earlier granted the trial court a month to hear the appeals, said the court could approach the high court to extend the deadline in case the proceedings are not completed by the stipulated time. However, the judge observed that the appeals deal with the tampering of judicial records and thus should be heard as expeditiously as possible.

“In the interest of justice, this court deems it (fit) that the hearing of the appeal be concluded before May 15 and the judgment be pronounced as expeditiously as possible after the conclusion. Needless to state that in the eventuality of the appeal not being concluded, it is always open to the learned appellate court to approach this court for further extension of time. It is made clear that no unnecessary adjournment shall be sought by the parties,” the court ordered.

The order was passed on a plea by Sushil Ansal for an extension of the one-month deadline set by the high court in its February 16 order, in which the court had refused to suspend the seven-year jail term awarded to the Ansal brothers and stated that they had been convicted for tampering with court records, and allowing their plea for suspension would “amount to eroding the faith of the public in the judicial system”.

Senior counsel Geeta Luthra, appearing for Sushil Ansal, urged the court to grant her four months to prepare and argue the appeal, which was “voluminous”. However, senior advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey, appearing for Gopal Ansal, objected to Luthra’s request and requested for 30 days from Wednesday. Special public prosecutor Dayan Krishnan also opposed the granting of additional time.

Tampering of judicial records was detected for the first time on July 20, 2002, and the magisterial court had also imposed a fine of ₹2.25 crore each on the Ansals, apart from imposing a seven-year jail term in the case.

The case was lodged on the direction of the Delhi high court based on a petition by Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy chairperson Neelam Krishnamoorthy.