New Delhi: Fourteen years on, tears brought alive sour memories of pain, fear, and agony of losing loved ones as families gathered Monday to remember the 59 people asphyxiated and trampled to death in south Delhi’s Uphaar cinema.
With eyes welled up and hands folded, the families observed a two-minute silence at a prayer meeting that started at 9 a.m. in front of the Smriti Upvan, a small remembrance patch near the cinema hall which has remained closed after the tragedy.
Even as the 28 families sat with silent tears and the disappointment at cases dragging on even after 14 years of the tragedy, the hope for justice eventually did not fade away.In 1997, 59 people died and over 100 were injured when a major fire broke out in the packed Uphaar cinema hall in south Delhi during the screening of J.P. Dutta’s war movie Border.Many died of asphyxiation while others lost their lives in a stampede.
The Delhi HC held the owners of the building and several government agencies guilty of not adhering to safety norms at the cinema and slapped monetary penalties.However, the families of the victims are not satisfied.(IANS)