In a decision which could trigger larger cultural implications, a Delhi court has convicted a man for bursting firecrackers on the night of Diwali violating the prescribed time limit declared by the Supreme Court.
According to Live Law, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jitendra Singh has convicted Old Delhi-resident Mayank Singh who was bursting crackers on November 7, 2018, beyond 10 PM.
A person named Mayank was bursting crackers at Paharganj. The Delhi police had warned him to stop bursting crackers as it was in violation of the orders of the Supreme Court. However, Mayank had continued to burst crackers on the occasion of Hindu religious festival Diwali.
The Delhi police had booked him under Section 188 CrPC for disobeying their orders by continuing to burst crackers despite issuing a warning.
The accused Mayank had recorded his statement under section 313 CrPC and did not deny the charges. He, however, said he was not aware of the orders of the Supreme Court.
The judge noted that the convict had no history and left him after warning under Section 3 of the Probation of Offenders Act. The court also asked him to pay Rs 500 as cost of proceeding as provided under Section 5 of the Probation of Offenders Act.
On 23rd October, the Supreme Court had allowed bursting of low pollutant crackers between 8 to 10 pm. The SC also banned the online sale of firecrackers and put a stay on the e-commerce portals from selling firecrackers. Later, the SC modified the order and decided that the 2-hour slot is only applicable for NCR only and not rest of the country.
This is not the only case when people celebrating their religious festival by bursting crackers were arrested allegedly for violating a controversial Supreme court verdict.
A man in Delhi’s Ghazipur area was arrested by the police after his children were found bursting firecrackers on November 1. According to reports, neighbours of the man objected to busting of firecrackers by the children and complained to the police.
Soon a Delhi police had arrived at the spot and seized the firecrackers for allegedly violating SC orders and bursting a year old crackers.
