TIMELINE OF A TRAGEDY
59 people die of asphyxia after a fire breaks out in Uphaar cinema during the screening of Border. More than 100 injured in ensuing stampede.
Theatre owner Sushil Ansal and his son Pranav arrested
Probe transferred to Central Bureau of Investigation
CBI chargesheets 16 people, including theatre owners Sushil and Gopal Ansal
Court frames charges against accused
Plea seeking re-possession of the theatre rejected
Delhi High Court awards Rs 180 million compensation for kin of victims
Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) approach HC seeking conclusion of trial within a fixed time frame.
Final arguments concluded. Court reserves judgment.
Court convicts all accused, including theAnsal brothers
High court grants bail to Ansal brothers SC cancels bail of Ansals, sends them to Tihar Jail
Delhi High Court upholds trial court order convicting Ansal brothers, reduces sentences
Supreme court grants bail to Ansal brothers
Kin of victims refuse to accept plea of Ansals of more money in lieu of ending criminal case
Supreme Court holds Sushil and Gopal Ansal guilty of criminal negligence for the 1997 case
Supreme Court orders Ansal brothers not to leave the country without its permission
A Delhi court ordered framing of charges of evidence tampering against Ansal brothers
CJI HL Dattu constitutes a three-judge special bench to decide on quantum of punishment for Ansals
The CBI and AVUT seek review of the apex court verdict, sending Ansal brothers to two years in jail term if they fail to pay ₹30 crore each in three months.
Review petitions filed. Ansals again told not to leave the country
Apex court reserves verdict
SC sentences Ansals to one year in jail. Give them four weeks to surrender Twenty long years ago, a young mother was planning to send her 17-year-old daughter to college. The world was hers to conquer and with her mother by her side, she was ready to fly.
That day, 20 years ago, 17-yearold Unnati Krishnamoorthy and her 13-year-old brother, Ujjwal, did what most kids do: watch a movie the day it hits the theatres.
It was Friday the thirteenth, 1997.
A fire broke out at Uphaar cinema and Unnati and Ujjwal, were among 59 who died .
Neelam, the young mother, and her husband Shekhar didn’t know Uphaar would go on to become a tragic leitmotif.
The happy couple had stolen their way out of the gynecological ward at AIIMS to watch a movie at the same hall — Uphaar — a night before Unnati was born.
Their life changed in so many ways when they were back at the theatre and the same hospital, to find their dead children .
On Thursday, after a long battle, the Supreme Court sentenced Gopal, one of the Ansal brothers (owners of Uphaar) to one year in prison. The older brother, Sushil, 77, was let off for his age.
It is not often that journalists become friends with people they meet in the course of their work. I first met Neelam and Shekhar, 20 years ago, soon after the deaths of their children and have been in touch with them ever since.
Unnati and Ujjwal’s deaths devastated the Krishnmoorthys but they have believed from the beginning — and have not