The two petitions filed separately by the owners of Uphaar cinema hall have challenged the Delhi High Court judgement upholding the verdict of the trial court holding them guilty under Section 304-A (rash and negligent act) of the IPC.
However, the High Court had reduced their jail terms from two years awarded by the trial court to one year.
Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani mentioned the appeal of Sushil Ansal contending that he was wrongly convicted as he had ceased to be the Director of Uphaar cinema in 1988.
The criminal lawyer said Sushil has already served five months of the jail term since his bail was cancelled by the apex court in September last and was entitled for the grant of bail.
He said if Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt can be granted bail after being convicted and sentenced to six years jail term for a serious offence, the Ansal brothers were also entitled to be treated on the same footing.
Jethmalani said the tragedy had occurred due to the fire in a transformer installed by the then state-owned Delhi Electricity Supply Undertaking (DESU) and in no way the theatre owners were responsible for the incident.
Earlier, the brief hearing during the mentioning hour saw Jethmalani's rival, senior advocate K T S Tulsi, questioned the listing of the petitions filed by Ansal brothers for early hearing.
Tulsi, appearing for the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT), raised technical objections against the matter being taken on board by the court.
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