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Uphaar case: Convict, who sought relief to attend family event, to be released for 2 days
Dinesh Chand Sharma's seven-year jail term suspended for November 21 and 22 on ‘humanitarian’ grounds so that he can attend his niece's engagement.
A Delhi court on Saturday suspended for two days the seven-year jail term awarded to a convict in connection with the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire tragedy, in which 59 people lost their lives, while more than 100 sustained injuries. Additional Sessions Judge Anil Antil granted relief to the convict, Dinesh Chand Sharma, on ‘humanitarian’ grounds, so that Sharma can attend the engagement ceremony of his niece.
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“Without adverting to the merits of the case, on humanitarian grounds, the sentence of conviction of convict Dinesh Chand Sharma is suspended for two days, i.e. November 21 and 22, and he is allowed to attend the engagement ceremony,” the bench ordered, also directing him to submit a bail bond in the sum of ₹50,000, as well as one surety of like amount, Livelaw reported.
In his application, Sharma had submitted that there was no elderly male member in the family to make arrangements for the already scheduled ceremony, requesting that he be released for a period of seven days to attend the ceremony. The woman’s grandfather was no more and her father passed away last month, the application claimed.
In order to verify the convict’s claims, the court had called for a status report from the Investigating Officer (IO), who filed a report stating that the claims were indeed true. The prosecution, too, submitted that it did not have any objection if the permission was granted to attend the ceremony for a limited period of only one day.
On October 8, a magisterial court convicted Sharma, real estate barons Sushil and Gopal Ansal, and two of their employees, in a case related to tampering with the crucial evidence in the fire tragedy case. On November 8, they were sentenced to seven years in jail, with the Ansals being fined ₹2.25 crore each, while a penalty of ₹3 lakh each was slapped on the other three.
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The fire had broken out in Uphaar on June 13, 1997, during the screening of the Hindi film ‘Border’
(With PTI inputs)
