Uphaar Cinema fire: Supreme Court rejects Gopal Ansal’s plea to spare him jail

Gopal Ansal at a Delhi court before a hearing in the Uphaar Cinema case

The Supreme Court refused on Thursday to strike down the jail term of Delhi-based builder Gopal Ansal, who has been sentenced to one-year imprisonment for a fire in south Delhi’s Uphaar Cinema that killed 59 people 20 years ago.

A special bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi refused to alter its February verdict that sent Gopal to jail for a year. The businessman has already spent a little over four months in Tihar, and he is required to serve seven more months in jail.

The court, however, gave him time more time to surrender, even as the earlier deadline expired on Thursday. He has to present himself before the jail authorities by March 20.