Families of the victims of the Uphaar Cinema fire on Monday asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to reject the mercy petition filed by one of the convicts, Gopal Ansal.
President of the Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT), Neelam Krishnamoorthy, said they handed over their representation to the Chief Minister. One of the owners of the cinema who was found guilty of negligence that led to the death of 59 people in 1997, Gopal Ansal, had filed a mercy petition before the President.
The petition was then forwarded by the Ministry for Home Affairs to the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor and the Delhi government.
‘Fight will be in vain’
Ms. Krishnamoorthy, who lost her two children in the fire, said that the victims’ kin had told the CM that if the convict was shown mercy, the 20-year fight for justice would have been in vain.
“The Chief Minister assured us that the Delhi government would not accept the mercy plea,” she said after meeting Mr. Kejriwal.
According to Delhi government sources, as reported in The Hindu last week, the Aam Aadmi Party government would be rejecting the petition.
