Two months shy of six years can be a long wait for justice. For the families of the 59 people who died on Friday, June 13, 1997, watching the premiere show of Border in Uphaar, an illegally run south Delhi theatre, justice has come, even if only halfway.

BLACK FRIDAY: Uphaar's tragedy threw up searing questions

On April 24, the Delhi High Court directed the owners of Uphaar theatre-the Ansal family, which runs one of India's biggest real-estate companies-along with civic authorities like the Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) and others to compensate the families to the tune of Rs 17 crore.

Another Rs 2.5 crore-earnings of the theatre owners from a clutch of extra, unauthorised seats in the balcony area-would go towards setting up an accident trauma service in the city. About Rs 1.04 crore would be paid to the 104 theatre goers who were injured in the stampede after Uphaar caught fire and turned into a death trap.

The compensation is to be paid by June 23, two months from the date of the order. If there is a delay, money will be recovered by the sale of Uphaar, sealed since Black Friday.

The Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) had demanded Rs 21 crore as compensation. AVUT had also asked the court to direct the theatre owners to set up an accident trauma centre at a cost of Rs 100 crore. But the court did not go into that since the Government is already committed to spending Rs 55 crore on such a facility.

What AVUT, the principal plaintiff in the case, has gained is more than just compensation. It has struck a blow for consumer rights. After all, the court also expressed concern at the poor infrastructure of the Delhi Fire Service-the agency tasked with rescue and fire fighting operations in the capital. The court has asked the fire brigade to equip itself adequately with gas masks, search lights, map of water tanks-and promptly.

Meanwhile, the criminal trial that involves tycoon brothers Sushil and Gopal Ansal, is on in a Delhi court. The CBI which inquired into the causes of the fire tragedy held the Ansals and 14 others, including government officials, guilty of criminal negligence that led to the deaths. Thus far 104 out of a possible 108 witnesses have been examined. The judgement in that trial is likely to come within a year.

On a summer evening in 1997, as he stood near the embers at the cremation ground where the last rites of many Uphaar victims took place, senior counsel K.T.S. Tulsi vowed to fight for justice. He gathered the distraught families together, asked them to form AVUT. To be an AVUT member you had to be part of a victim's immediate family. Every month, AVUT met in remembrance of the dead, and to renew its pledge to see the guilty punished. Today Tulsi says, "I am satisfied. Even though the courts move slowly like elephants, a very important first step has been taken."

Inside the courtrooms, the families of the victims have gone through traumatic times. Like Neelam Krishnamoorthy who had lost both her children, Unnati and Ujjwal-17 and 13 at the time-had told India Today how she had been humiliated by defence lawyers, and reduced to tears. Irrelevant questions had been heaped on her-the counsels wanted her to answer questions like "how many theatres had screened Border that day", and "whether her allegations were false since she was a prejudiced party".

Today this forlorn mother can feel a certain satisfaction. She cannot get back her children but her group, AVUT, has ensured that a precedent has been set. Disasters generally go unpunished in India. The high court's Uphaar judgement pins responsibility on property owners as well as civic bodies that ignored violation of safety norms.

There are some piquant questions. DVB's power distribution wing, which was responsible for the shoddy transformer that burst at Uphaar, has since been privatised. Who will bear the compensation? The Delhi Government or the new owners? The broader point is taken but the devil is in the details.