Uphaar Cinema fire: Supreme Court rejects Gopal Ansal’s plea to spare him jail

The court, however, gave him time more time to surrender, even as the earlier deadline expired Thursday. He has to present himself before the jail authorities by March 20.

The Supreme Court refused on Thursday to strike down the jail term of Delhi-based builder Gopal Ansal, who has been sentenced to one-year imprisonment for a fire in south Delhi’s Uphaar Cinema that killed 59 people 20 years ago.

Gopal Ansal at a Delhi court before a hearing in the Uphaar Cinema case. (HT Photo)

A special bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi refused to alter its February verdict that sent Gopal to jail for a year. The businessman has already spent a little over four months in Tihar, and he is required to serve seven more months in jail.

The court, however, gave him time more time to surrender, even as the earlier deadline expired on Thursday. He has to present himself before the jail authorities by March 20.

Justice Gogoi had on Wednesday refused to adjourn the hearing of Gopal’s application by a week and declined to give him more time to surrender.

Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani wanted the bench to postpone the hearing because he was in Pune for two days. He had asked the court to extend the surrender deadline till the next hearing.

However, the bench declined his plea and said the bench would dispose of Gopal’s application on Thursday.

The victims’ association (AVUT) claimed both Sushil and Gopal were healthy and demanded that they be sent to jail to serve the remaining sentence.

The owners, an investigation had found, added extra seats that blocked one of the exits, preventing the victims –- 23 of them minors -- from escaping the burning hall after a fire broke out in the transformer room. Most of the victims were asphyxiated.