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Photos| Abandoned crime scenes: Uphaar Cinema and December 16 gangrape bus

In September 2018, HT correspondent Prawesh Lama and photographer Sanchit Khanna visited the sites of the December 16, 2012 gangrape (the bus in question) and Uphaar cinema (of the eponymous fire tragedy) to take stock of both scenes years, and decades after their respective incidents. A look in photos at what they discovered, weathered from years of being cordoned off or mired in stigma and legal battles and consequently frozen in time –sights from both locations telling of the tragedies that occurred there.

Updated on: Nov 08, 2021 6:00 PM IST

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A day after the crime, police had recovered the bus from the Sant Ravi Dass camp in south Delhi, where four of the six convicts lived. The bus had enough forensic evidence for police to seal the fate of the six men who raped the paramedic on December 16, 2012.  (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

Updated on Nov 08, 2021 6:00 PM

A day after the crime, police had recovered the bus from the Sant Ravi Dass camp in south Delhi, where four of the six convicts lived. The bus had enough forensic evidence for police to seal the fate of the six men who raped the paramedic on December 16, 2012. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

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The odometer read two-lakh-twenty-six-thousand-seven-hundred-and-eighty-four kilometres. The tyres were flat. The dashboard and engine were covered in rust. Near the dashboard, under a seat, a rusted belt buckle was recovered. In December 2012, a team of police officers were posted round-the-clock to guard this white bus.  (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

Updated on Nov 08, 2021 6:00 PM

The odometer read two-lakh-twenty-six-thousand-seven-hundred-and-eighty-four kilometres. The tyres were flat. The dashboard and engine were covered in rust. Near the dashboard, under a seat, a rusted belt buckle was recovered. In December 2012, a team of police officers were posted round-the-clock to guard this white bus. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

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As the country woke up to the news of the gangrape, sporadic protests had started across the city on December 17, 2012. Everyone wanted the bus set on fire and destroyed, so it was secretly taken and parked with many other buses near Thyagaraj Stadium. It was there that forensic experts inspected the bus to collect fingerprints that would later match those of the six men.  (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

Updated on Nov 08, 2021 6:00 PM

As the country woke up to the news of the gangrape, sporadic protests had started across the city on December 17, 2012. Everyone wanted the bus set on fire and destroyed, so it was secretly taken and parked with many other buses near Thyagaraj Stadium. It was there that forensic experts inspected the bus to collect fingerprints that would later match those of the six men. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

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In April 2018, the Supreme Court had ordered the Delhi Police to get rid of all junk vehicles lying at police stations. After a gap of six years, the notorious white bus took the same route it did that December night. Although this time, it had to be towed by a crane and secretly transferred to a location in west Delhi.  (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

Updated on Nov 08, 2021 6:00 PM

In April 2018, the Supreme Court had ordered the Delhi Police to get rid of all junk vehicles lying at police stations. After a gap of six years, the notorious white bus took the same route it did that December night. Although this time, it had to be towed by a crane and secretly transferred to a location in west Delhi. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

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Uphaar cinema, in the heart of south Delhi’s Green Park, had its last show on the evening of Friday, the 13th, in June 1997. That evening, a fire broke out in the transformer on the basement, spread to cars parked nearby and trapped over 150 movie-goers onthe first and second floors. Unable to escape, 59 perished in the fire. Over a hundred were injured.  (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

Updated on Nov 08, 2021 6:00 PM

Uphaar cinema, in the heart of south Delhi’s Green Park, had its last show on the evening of Friday, the 13th, in June 1997. That evening, a fire broke out in the transformer on the basement, spread to cars parked nearby and trapped over 150 movie-goers onthe first and second floors. Unable to escape, 59 perished in the fire. Over a hundred were injured. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

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The complex was sealed, but the hole in the building’s wall was large enough for vagabonds and the homeless to enter at will. It was dark inside. The power supply was snapped that night. Soft drink bottles lay strewn on the floor of the main hall. Some of them were never opened. Strewn across the hall, in the balcony, below the charred seats are shoes covered with 21 years of soot.  (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

Updated on Nov 08, 2021 6:00 PM

The complex was sealed, but the hole in the building’s wall was large enough for vagabonds and the homeless to enter at will. It was dark inside. The power supply was snapped that night. Soft drink bottles lay strewn on the floor of the main hall. Some of them were never opened. Strewn across the hall, in the balcony, below the charred seats are shoes covered with 21 years of soot. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

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On the first floor, there were offices –doors wide open. On the table, in one of them were unsigned invitation cards, a large notebook turned into an attendance register dated January 1, 1997 that lists the names of the employees that year. There were film trade guide magazines. A February 1997 issue of the magazine had a cover story of a younger Salman Khan and his then yet-to-be-released movie Auzaar.  (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

Updated on Nov 08, 2021 6:00 PM

On the first floor, there were offices –doors wide open. On the table, in one of them were unsigned invitation cards, a large notebook turned into an attendance register dated January 1, 1997 that lists the names of the employees that year. There were film trade guide magazines. A February 1997 issue of the magazine had a cover story of a younger Salman Khan and his then yet-to-be-released movie Auzaar. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

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A Delhi court on November 8, 2021, awarded a seven-year simple imprisonment to real estate barons Gopal Ansal and Sushil Ansal in a case of tampering with evidence in the Uphaar cinema fire tragedy case. Out on bail, the convicts were taken into custody soon after the order was pronounced. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

Updated on Nov 08, 2021 6:00 PM

A Delhi court on November 8, 2021, awarded a seven-year simple imprisonment to real estate barons Gopal Ansal and Sushil Ansal in a case of tampering with evidence in the Uphaar cinema fire tragedy case. Out on bail, the convicts were taken into custody soon after the order was pronounced. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Archive)

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