“Trial by Fire”
The all-engulfing fire at Upahaar.
(An edgy book and web series)
“Trial By Fire”, the web series that has been released on Netflix on 13th January, 2023 and the mind- numbing book by the same name, that I read in the same month, they coincided, rather ironically, with the Electrical Safety Week (from 11th to 17th January) by Maharashtra State Electricity Board. 26 years ago, on 13th June 1997, the transformer of Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) at Upahaar Theatre in South Delhi suddenly caught fire. And it started a raging fire. Many people died and hundreds of people sustained injuries. This incident is considered as one of the major fire accidents in India. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. published a book in 2016, named “Trial by Fire”, written by Shekhar and Nilima Krishnamurty, so that people would understand the gravity of this incident. In 2019, Hindi edition of this book, too, was published. People like me who work in Construction and Electric domain have some idea about this mishap. But it’s possible that the details of this horrific incident might not be known to many people. What happened during this incident? To get the answer to this question, the book and the web series play a very important role.
13th June 1997, a very
mundane day in Delhi! Delhi was slowly waking up in the foggy and misty
morning. That day started for Nilima and Shekhar Krishnamurty’s happy family as
usual. Their 17- year-old older daughter, Unnati, was working on the computer
and their 13-year-old younger son, Ujwal, was playing video games on TV with
his father. Nilima was as always busy in the kitchen. Suddenly, Nilima
remembered that she had promised to take the kids to a movie that day. Unnati
was a big fan of movies. So, Nilima, even though, she was rushing through the
morning chores, called Upahaar Theatre, and booked two tickets for “Border”
movie that was released on that same day. How exciting to catch the first day
first show; 3 to 6 in the noon! Ujwal and Unnati were ecstatic. They both were
eagerly waiting for the movie based on 1971 India-Pakistan war and it starred
Sunny Deol and many more fine actors.
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| Ujwal (Age: 13years) |
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| Unnati (Age: 17 years) |
That day, Nilima’s husband, Shekhar made chicken curry
for lunch. The whole family enjoyed the lunch together. The kids were pulling
each other’s leg and having fun. After lunch, before leaving to watch the
movie, Unnati reminded Ujwal to carry his asthma inhaler with him. Kids left
for the movie. ‘That was when I saw the kids for the last time’….’ Nilima
states.
The
dance of fire (Conflagration)
The first show of ‘Border’ started at 3 in the noon. Ujwal and Unnati had tickets for the balcony, on the upper (mezzanine)floor. Everyone was engrossed in the movie. At around 5 pm, after the interval, smoke started to fill in the hall. The spectators started feeling uneasy. And they started to suffocate. The fire reached the main hall. People started panicking due to rising flames, smoke, and burns. To make matters worse, the electricity supply got shut off. Nobody knew what was going on. People started running wildly in the hall. A stampede ensued. People started jumping out of the windows by breaking the windowpanes. After much delay, some called the fire brigade. But due to the traffic jam at Green Park area in Delhi, help couldn’t arrive in time. This increased the number of victims and the injured. As much as 59 people died in this mishap, among which 23 were children. There was a month-old baby too. Hundreds of people sustained injuries. This fire took the life Unnati and Ujwal too. They were suffocated due to the smoke. Even the inhaler that Ujwal had with him was of no use...
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| Transformer explosion at basement of Upahar |
Why and
how this happened?
On the same day, at around 6 in the
morning, due to some fault, the transformer belonging to Delhi Vidyut Board,
that was in the basement of this building caught a slight fire. The wiremen on
duty and the foreman took care of this fire with some temporary measures. This
information was later revealed during investigation. On the same day, Delhi
Vidyut Board had declared load shedding from 3.55 pm to 5 pm. So, it started as
scheduled. Electricity resumed at 4.55 pm after the interval in the movie. At
the same time, sparks started to fly from the transformer in the basement. It
is likely that this happened due to the loose connection of the conductor in
the cable. This loose conductor slipped out of the transformer and the sparks
coming out of it caused the explosion. The oil from the transformer splashed
around the basement and the illegally and wrongly parked vehicles there caught
fire. The basement started blazing. The flames and plumes of smoke started
roaring through the stairs and air condition ducts to the cinema hall above.
 |
| Inside the Theater |
People sitting in the lower section
of the hall somehow managed to open the doors and escape. But the people
sitting in the balcony were not that fortunate. Because; the exit doors were
locked from outside. So, the people from the balcony couldn’t escape. Many of
them suffocated and died. A stampede happened. There were around 52 extra
chairs kept illegally near the exit doors of the balcony. Private boxes were
installed for VIP spectators. So, it narrowed the passage to the exit. It added
to the chaos. People were entrapped in the balcony. It was chaos at its peak.
Consequences of recklessness
When the manager at the Upahaar
Theatre came to know of this fire, instead of extinguishing the fire, he took
all the cash collected and fled. He didn’t even bother to call the fire
brigade. So, the fire brigade was called around 5.25pm, almost 25 minutes after
the fact. In addition to that, the fire brigade couldn’t reach there earlier
because it was stuck in the traffic jam. So, the number of deaths and injured
soared. Even the fire extinguisher system installed in the building was not up
to the mark or was not even in working condition due to lack of maintenance.
There were no fire extinguishers. There were no emergency lights anywhere in
the building. So, it was a total chaos in finding a way out of the building.
Shekhar and Nilima were informed of
this accident by their daughter’s friend, Vishal. Shekhar and Nilima rushed to
the scene of the incident. They began looking for their kids in that crowd.
After much time, they went to AIIMS hospital where the injured were being
treated. There, they found corpses of Unnati and Ujwal on the stretchers and everything
darkened in front of them. What can be a greater sorrow than parents
experiencing the death of their children? Now, the children are no more, what
should we live for? And for whom? The grief of Shekhar and Nilima was beyond
consoling. Even in that situation, Nilima, who was crying in grief while
caressing Unnati's dead body, noticed that someone had snatched Unnati's gold
necklace and earrings. Nilima was disgusted by the perverted human nature. The
sadness in Nilima's mind was turning into anger.
A long legal battle
Nilima and Shekhar were devastated by
the death of their children. But after recovering a little, many doubts started
cropping up in Nilima Krishnamurty's mind. Why were the spectators in the
balcony affected more by this fire? Why was the transformer that caused the
accident not maintained? Who is responsible for its maintenance? Why weren't
all the safety devices in place in the building? Who is responsible for this?
Why did the fire brigade arrive at the scene so late? So many suspicions
started to bother Nilima. She was convinced that this is a man-made fiasco.
Broken rules and irresponsible administration had resulted in this disaster. As
more and more information came to light, Nilima began to resent the owners of
the Uphaar theatre. ‘We have to fight a legal battle for justice to our
children’ this brave couple resolved.
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| Shekhar & Nilima Krushnamurthi |
An investigation into the Uphaar fire
started. On July 22, 1997, the police arrested Sushil and Gopal Ansal, the
owners of Uphaar, from Mumbai. Two days later, on July 24, the Delhi Police
handed over this serious case to the CBI. Nilima and Shekhar Krishnamurty
formed an organization named 'Association of Victims of Upahaar Tragedy'
(A.V.U.T.) to get maximum punishment for the guilty. Relatives of persons who
died in this fire became members of this organization. All the bereaved
relatives now joined together to fight the court battle. Nilima Krishnamurty
played an important role in this fight. Once the fight began, Nilima started
studying the criminal law, rules of the security system, the working methods of
the court and the nuances of its work. CBI filed charges against the brothers
Sushil and Gopal Ansal along with 16 other persons (including the staff who
enforced the security rules of the theatre, the corrupt security inspector who
gave permission for such an unsafe building, officials, and employees of Delhi
Vidyut Board (DVB)). On November 20, 2007, the court convicted the 12 accused,
including the Ansal brothers, and sentenced them to two years of jail term.
 |
| Sushil, and Gopal Ansal. |
But the owners of the building,
Sushil, and Gopal Ansal, were a big tycoon duo with strong political
connections. Delhi Vidyut Board officials were also booked for 'negligence in
maintenance of transformers'. But these officials served minimum sentences and
were out of jail. AVUT organisation i.e., Association of Victims challenged
this decision of the High Court in the Supreme Court. After this challenge, in
2015, the Ansal brothers were released after imposing a fine of 30 crores each.
The Ansal brothers were again sentenced to 1 year imprisonment on a
reconsideration petition filed by the CBI. 75-year-old Sushil Ansal was
released from the jail due to his advanced age. Nilima Krishnamurty expressed
her disappointment on the decision of this court. After hearing the verdict,
she said, 'After this verdict of the court, I tossed the papers in my hand and
came out of the court and cried a lot for the first time'. She was very
emotional while reminiscing about that day. This court battle of the
Krishnamurty couple lasted for 21 years.
Of course, without being
disappointed, they have filed another appeal in the Supreme Court for 'Sushil
Ansal to at least serve the sentence awarded to him'. They do not know when the
court will hear their appeal.
Web Series: Dreadful Experience.
Recently, on 13th January 2023 'Trial
by Fire’, a web series based on the book written by Nilima and Shekhar
Krishnamurty has been released on Netflix. Directors Prashant Nair, Ranjit Jha
and Avni Deshpande have created this web series very effectively. 'Rajshree
Deshpande' has played the role of Nilima Krishnamurty extremely well. Abhay
Deol gives an impressive performance as Shekhar Krishnamurty. He is a great
actor, but somewhat forgotten about. Ashish Vidyarthi, Ratna Pathak, Anupam
Kher, Shilpa Shukla, Rajesh Telang, Siddharth Bharadwaj are the respected,
versatile, and experienced actors that take this web series to a different
level.
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| Abhay Deol & Rajshree Deshpande |
While watching the web series, I was
curious how this Upahaar fire would be shot on camera and portrayed on screen.
That chilling fire incident comes in the last and 7th episode of the web
series. After the series ends, the impact of the incident takes over our mind
and remains for a long time. The mind numbs. The Krishnamurty couple's book is
very thorough with the details of these unfortunate events. But since the web
series has time constraint, the web series does not have the nuances of the
incident, but it sure is packed with drama. This dramatization is the requisite
of the medium, so there are small incidents and events that happen parallel to
this event, but some of which do not actually happen. But that does not
diminish the importance of this web series. In short, this unfortunate event
exposed through both media (book and web series) leaves the audience and the
reader to introspect. Everyone should understand and experience this incident
of fire both through the book ‘Trial by Fire’ and the web series.
-
The Upahaar theatre in Delhi is still standing in a rundown
state. The traces of the fire that occurred
26 years ago are still visible on this structure. It cannot be demolished unless the court decides on Nilima's last plea.
- Another important thing...
3 years after the Upahaar fire, in 2000, the installation of 'oil packed
transformers in any building' was banned. Even after 22 years of this ban,
transformers in the basement of buildings in many big cities in
India are still running unattended. They are waiting
for their own explosion...
Rajeev Jatkar
27 January 2023
