Uphaar Cinema fire

Uphaar Cinema fire
Date13 June 1997 (1997-06-13)
LocationGreen Park, Delhi, India
CauseElectric transformer fire due to improper maintenance, leading to stampede
Deaths59
Non-fatal injuries103

The Uphaar Cinema fire was one of the worst fire tragedies in recent Indian history.[1][2] The fire started on Friday, 13 June 1997 at Uphaar Cinema in Green Park, Delhi during the three o'clock screening of the movie Border.[3] Fifty-nine people were trapped inside and died of asphyxiation (suffocation), while 103 were seriously injured in the resulting stampede.

The victims and the families of the deceased later formed The Association of Victims of Uphaar Fire Tragedy (AVUT),[4] which filed the landmark civil compensation case. It won ₹25 crore (equivalent to ₹63 crore or US$7.5 million in 2023) in compensation for the families of the victims.[5] The case is now considered a breakthrough in civil compensation law in India.[6][7] However, on 13 October 2011, the Supreme Court bench headed by Justice R Raveendran, inexplicably, nearly halved the sum of compensation awarded to victims by the [Delhi high court], and slashed punitive damages to be paid by cinema owners, the Ansal brothers, from ₹2.5 crore (equivalent to ₹5.2 crore or US$620,000 in 2023) to ₹25 lakh (equivalent to ₹52 lakh or US$62,000 in 2023).[8]

In its final order on 25 August 2015, the Supreme Court modified its earlier order[9] and sentenced the Ansal brothers to a two-year jail term if they failed to pay the families of the victims Rs.30 crore each within three months.[10] The Supreme Court reviewed this order again on 9 February 2017, and sentenced Gopal Ansal to a year in jail for the case. The other accused, Sushil Ansal, did not have to serve a further more sentence because of his old age.[11]

Uphaar Cinema.
Uphaar fire victim Memorial Park
  1. ^ "Remember Uphaar". Remember Uphaar. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  2. ^ Cinema fire one of the worst in Indian history Rediff.com, 14 June 1997.
  3. ^ Venkatesan, V (22 December 2007). "Tragic errors". Frontline. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  4. ^ "Remember Uphaar". Remember Uphaar. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference awake was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Uphaar Cinema Verdict - A Breakthrough In Compensation Law Legal View, Laws in India
  7. ^ Activism - Implications of Uphaar Cinema judgement 14 May 2003.
  8. ^ SC reduces compensation to kin of victims Times of India, Thursday, 13 October 2011.
  9. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ^ "SC restores two-year jail term if Ansals fail to pay Rs.60 cr". Deccan Herald. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
  11. ^ "Uphaar fire tragedy: SC sentences Gopal Ansal to one year jail". The Indian Express. 9 February 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2017.