On Friday, the Delhi High Court rejected the petition filed by Ansal brothers urged for placing added written submissions before the trial court hearing the 10-year-old Uphaar case. The Ansal brothers are facing trial in trial court in the connection with Uphaar fire tragedy case.

The Delhi HC Judge SN Dhingra, while dismissing the petition of Ansal brothers, said:

I find no error and infirmity in the judgment of the trial court. There is no force in the petition.

Earlier on September 5, the trial court had rejected plea filed by Ansal brothers for submission of additional documents. Later, the five accused in the Uphaar fire tragedy case including Sushil and Gopal Ansal, had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court on September 17. They urged the HC for quashing the trial court’s order of September 5.

Besides Ansal brothers, three other accused, Ajit Chaudhary, Nirmal Singh Chopra and R K Sharma, were the managers of Uphaar Cinema Hall. They all said in a joint petition that the trial court raised certain queries during the hearing and had asked for a few clarifications during the final hearings.

They alleged that the court did not hear petitioners’ counsel on those asked clarifications and fixed the next date of hearing.

On August 22, the trial court refused to admit the written arguments filed by all 5 accused. The accused claimed that their prosecutor was not present at that time. They also claimed that the trial court disposed of their application even without hearing them.

Later, the trial court is expected to fix on October 22 the date for pronouncement of the verdict in the Uphaar tragedy case. On June 13, 1997, a fire tragedy at Uphaar cinema hall had killed 59 persons including children and women. Later, the police charged 12 people, including Ansal brothers, accused of causing deaths by negligence.

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