‘Human life is cheap in India’

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My life used to revolve around my children. Fifteen years after their death, it still revolves around them. My happiness and hopes from life died the day my young children were suffocated to death due to the callousness of a few persons, who put so many innocent lives at risk to make a profit of a few crores. I promised my kids that I would get them justice at any cost. I will not rest until I fulfil the promise I made to my dead children. That’s the least I can do for them.

Fifteen years after the Uphaar fire, which was indeed a man-made tragedy, I feel absolutely dejected and disillusioned by the judicial system of our country. I had immense faith in our judicial system. But I have seen so much in the past 15 years that I have no expectations anymore.
The evidence on record in the case has been tampered with and I have faced all kinds of threats. Goons have threatened me in court premises. A popular female lawyer warned me of dire consequences. I was fed up of going to the police with my complaints as they simply did nothing. The cases filed by the Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) are moving at a snail’s pace in various courts.
The main culprits are out on bail. They have offered me enormous amounts of money to stop fighting for justice. I say money will not bring my children back; give a public apology to all those who lost their loved ones. But they refuse to apologise for ruining so many lives with their greed and carelessness.
According to official inquiry reports, the fire at Uphaar could have been prevented had there been fire safety measures in place. The theatre had faced a fire due to similar causes in 1989, but no lessons had been learnt. Similar incidents, such as the fire at AMRI hospital in Kolkata, occur even today. But the cost of human life is tremendously cheap in our country.
For every person who dies in such a tragedy, the compensation amount is only `10 lakh. If the amount of compensation continues to remain so low, corporates and moneyed people will go on flouting safety norms. Even if 100 people are killed, they will have to pay only `10 crore, which is a fraction of the profits earned by them.
If compensation and punishment don’t act as deterrents, electricity and municipal authorities will continue to give NOCs in lieu of money, without ensuring foolproof safety mechanisms. If the adjournment culture in our courts is not done away with, no one will have faith in the judiciary, except the powerful who can easily manipulate the system.
There are so many days when I come home dejected and shattered. All I do is go to my children’s room, where I have kept all their things — books, clothes, music — the way they left them. That’s where I get my strength back. Sometimes, my husband and I have the urge to turn the clock back to 15 years ago and somehow stop the tragedy from occurring. There are times when we desperately want our kids back.
We would have been grandparents by now had they been alive. But after their death, our life has lost its meaning. We have nothing to look forward to. We have already started counting our days.
We had a big social circle when all was well. After the kids left us, we hardly socialise. I don’t go to weddings anymore. I wonder how Unnati would have looked as a bride. On that fateful day, when I didn’t hear from my children for a long time and was sick with worry, I lit a lamp in front of God, praying for their safety. That was the last day I prayed. I lost faith in God the moment I saw my children’s bodies lying on stretchers.
It’s such an irony that both my children were born at AIIMS and died at AIIMS. We brought them home from AIIMS as newborns, and we brought home their bodies from the same hospital. It’s also ironic that they were both born in the same month, August, and since their birthdays were just a few days apart, both of them celebrated their birthday on the same day. They died on the same day too.
A few days after the tragedy, friends and family almost abandoned us. They didn’t know how to deal with our grief. They chickened out. It’s really sad that those who are close to you during the good times of your life fail to understand you in times of grief.
We have been very fortunate to have a lawyer as committed as Mr K.T.S. Tulsi. He has fought for us for the last 15 years without charging a penny. He has understood our pain and has even left important cases for ours. I will be indebted to him all my life.
To those who have tried all means to threaten me and put me down, all I have to say is that I will not give up till I get justice for my children. All I am fighting for is a deterrent law to prevent such tragedies from happening in future. I will fight till the end and I am not afraid of anything. In any case, I have nothing to lose.