Explained: What was the Uphaar cinema tragedy, which inspired Netflix series ‘Trial by Fire’?

It is one of the biggest fire tragedies in India. On 13 June 1997, 59 people died and 103 were injured as a massive fire broke out at Uphaar Cinema in Delhi’s Green Park. The victims were regular moviegoers who were there to see J P Dutta’s “Border.” Who thought a day out at the cinema would turn into a nightmare? As Netflix releases a mini-series “Trial by Fire” based on a book about the incident and the long-drawn legal battle that followed, we look back at the case. What happened? On the morning of June 13, 1997, at 6.55 am, the bigger of the two transformers at Uphaar Cinema’s ground floor caught fire. Even though the fire was swiftly extinguished, the transformer was harmed, according to Indian Express. An electrician quickly repaired it only to open the theatre. Since the repair wasn’t done properly, the transformer caught fire again after one of its cables came loose and caused intense sparking. The transformer reportedly didn’t have an oil soak pit, which is mandatory as per regulations, and this caused the burning oil to spread to other areas. Even cars at distance were engulfed in the much larger flames. The smoke entered the cinema hall and the theatre had lost power. Viewers on the lower floor were able to escape, while people seating on the balcony were trapped. According to News18, a total of 59 people lost their lives due to asphyxiation, i.e. suffocation due to lack of oxygen supply. Due to the chaos, over 103 people were injured in a stampede to escape. Crucially, due to traffic, fire tenders took over an hour to reach the spot. Also read: Uphaar cinema fire tragedy case: Supreme Court dismisses curative petitions; no further jail term for Ansal brothers Why did it happen? Several lapses in “safety measures” were liable for the tragic incident. Indian Express quoted senior advocate Harish Salve, who was appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Delhi High Court in 2007, “Safety measures, meant for panic situations, were not in place in the ill-fated theatre… the persons, who were getting financial gains from the operation of the cinema, were criminally liable for the lapses.” The generator that caught fire didn’t have safety features, and more importantly, it was placed in what was being used as a parking lot, the report said. This also caused cars with highly inflammable gasoline to catch fire easily. It was later reported that the generator was not maintained on a periodic basis as required by law. According to News18, the cinema hall did not have exit lights, footlights, or emergency lights, and became pitch dark when the theatre lost power. No public announcement system was in place to alert the viewers about the fire. Numerous exit gates were locked, while gangways were blocked as the cinema hall had unauthorised extensions to increase seating capacity and business. The legal battle Uphaar tragedy warrior Neelam Krishnamoorthy, who lost both her children in the fire, told ThePrint, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the last 24 years, it is this – don’t go to the courts with any expectations. They will let you down.” According to the news outlet, Neelam and her husband Shekhar first approached senior advocate KTS Tulsi, who recommended a collective legal battle by contacting other victims’ families to form an association named “Association for Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT). The victims and families of the deceased tried to hold the theatre owners liable for the tragedy. The Delhi Police arrested cinema owners – Sushil and Gopal Ansal in Mumbai in July 1997, however, later the case was swiftly transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

ThePrint quoted Neelam as saying in her book “Trial by Fire” that the move came as a surprise. She wrote, “While the Delhi Police had been consistently opposing the granting of bail for two weeks, the CBI, in the very first hearing, agreed to grant them (the Ansals) bail, even before it had taken charge of the case diaries from the Delhi Police.”

Notably, the initial chargesheet by CBI had the names of 16 accused, however, the trial went on for over a decade. Even today, the fight for justice goes on with cases of evidence tampering against the Ansals. Ten years after the tragedy, the trial court finally convicted the Ansals of criminal negligence and slapped a two-year prison, which is the maximum in such a case, as per Indian Express. The Delhi Court upholding the conviction, however, reduced the sentence to one year. The case went on for over a decade in the Supreme Court. The Delhi Court in 2017, made a landmark judgment asking the Ansal Theatre and Clubotels Limited (ATCL) group, the Delhi Vidyut Board (DVP), the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), and the Delhi Police to pay Rs 18 lakh each as compensation to adult victims, Rs 15 lakh each to families of the children who died, and Rs 1 lakh each to the 103 injured, according to ThePrint. The Ansals were also asked to pay Rs 2.5 crore to set up a trauma centre, which today is known as the AIIMS Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre in Delhi’s Safdarjung Enclave, and is one of the few paramedical institutions in India. After the Ansals filed an appeal saying they did not have enough funds to pay the compensation, the Supreme Court in 2011 reduced the amount to be paid to Rs 15 lakh for adults and Rs 7.5 lakh for children. The outcome In July 2022, the Ansal brothers walked out of jail as the court, in the evidence tampering case, observed that nothing could compensate the victims’ families for their loss and that the order was issued considering the brothers’ age. The court added that a trial court had earlier passed a sentence that was “punitive and retributive in nature” to teach them a lesson, according to Indian Express. As per the report, Sushil Ansal has spent only five months in prison while Gopal was ordered to serve a year in jail. The case is still ongoing with the brothers appealing against their conviction.

Speaking to Indian Express ahead of the release of the Netflix show, Shekhar and Neelam said, “We didn’t spend as much time with our children on this Earth as we have seeking justice for their murders. We are serving a living death sentence; it has been 26 years, and it is still on.”

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