Uphaar tragedy: Gopal Ansal moves to SC for relief

In another twist of events in the Uphaar fire tragedy case, Gopal Ansal has moved to the Supreme Court seeking similarity in sentence as granted to his elder brother Sushil Ansal, stating that his health condition is equally bad and another jail term would worsen his physical state. Earlier this year, Gopal Ansal was asked by the court to surrender and serve his remaining term of jail whereas his elder brother Sushil Ansal was spared by the court on account of his ill health and ailments. The two business tycoons Gopal and Sushil Ansal were let-off last year by the SC with the sentence already undergone by them as adequate punishment provided each paid Rs 30 crore in fine. However, on review petitions filed by Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy and the CBI, the SC on February 9 upheld Sushil's sentence but asked Gopal to undergo full one year sentence. Gopal in his application for modification of court order has stated that, his body and health are worse than his elder brother and going back into custody after a period of release is much more painful and tragic than serving the whole sentence once and for all. He further claimed that he was not given an opportunity to prove his delicate medical condition and would suffer irreparable damage to health, if sent back to jail now. Gopal sought an open court hearing and said that his time to surrender should be extended until his application is decided by the bench.

This case is a clear example of delay in justice to the extent that both the accused had served more than half of their jail term before the final judgment was made by the court. Reconsidering the judgment delivered and then sending only one of the accused to jail was surely going to attract further litigation in the matter. Now, the court has to tackle this matter with great amount of tact in order to find a balance between the pain suffered by the victims of the tragedy and the accused due to their old age.