Trial by Fire quietly unpeels the dignity and grit of families who should never have had to be so brave but were
In 2010, Neelam met with the law commission asking for a separate law for man-made disasters that enhanced jail time from the current two years. A report was prepared in 2012. Then, nothing even as other disasters raged: Kumbakonam school, Victoria Park, AMRI hospital, Sum hospital. (HT PHOTO)
A mother’s simple question — how her children died — becomes a 26-year-long search for justice. It was clear to Neelam Krishnamoorthy soon after the June 1997 Uphaar Cinema fire took the life of her two children, Unnati (17) and Ujjwal (13), along with that of 57 others, that this disaster was avoidable. If the doors of the theatre had not been locked; if the public announcement system worked; if the emergency lights functioned; if the gangways hadn’t been blocked by extra seats, including a private box for the owners, Gopal and Sushil Ansal; if the manager had, instead of moving cash and cars, alerted the fire service earlier. The list is long and damning.