Delhi High Court defers verdict in Uphaar fire case

The court says it will decide the date of pronouncement of verdict on Oct 22 as it has not gone through the case file.

A Delhi court on Wednesday deferred the pronouncement of verdict in the 10-year-old case of Uphaar fire tragedy which claimed 59 lives during the screening of Hindi film

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Additional Sessions Judge Mamta Sehgal said the court would decide the date for pronouncement of verdict in the case on October 22 as she had not gone through the complete voluminous records as yet.

A total of 12 accused, including theatre owners -- Sushil and Gopal Ansal, charged with causing death by negligence on June 13, 1997, when the devastating fire at Uphaar killed 59 people, have been facing trial in the case.

Meanwhile, the court rejected Ansal brothers' plea to file additional arguments in the case in their defence.

The court said the accused had already been provided enough opportunity.

To this, the defence said, the accused have filed a fresh application along with other documents putting on record their plea for forwarding additional grounds to prove their innocence.

The court then said that the application in this regard would also be decided later and if any clarification is required while going through the judicial file, it would call the respective counsel.

The judge had reserved the case verdict on August 21. Four accused had died during the pendency of the trial in the case in which CBI had examined 115 witnesses. The trial also witnessed some controversy when a court staff was dismissed from service for tampering with the court documents allegedly at the instance of the main accused.

All the accused have been charged with causing death by negligence and endangering lives under the IPC and relevant provisions of the Cinematography Act, 1952.