Bitterness and caution among people booked for bursting crackers last year

New Delhi: Mohit Kumar, 33, has vowed that the won’t even step out this Diwali.

New Delhi: Mohit Kumar, 33, has vowed that the won’t even step out this Diwali.

HT Image

He is afraid that his six-year-old son will insist on bursting firecrackers when other children in his Lodhi Road neighbourhood burn fireworks on Diwali night. “I don’t want to break my boy’s heart, but I can’t take any chances with firecrackers,” said Kumar.

Kumar’s caution stems from his detention by the Delhi Police last Diwali after he and his relatives were allegedly caught bursting firecrackers beyond the time stipulated by the court. He had spent hours at the Lodhi Road police station that night and continues to make rounds of the court.

“This Diwali, I won’t even step out of home,” said Kumar.

The first information report (FIR) against Kumar was among at least 562 such cases registered by the Delhi Police on Diwali last year against people violating the court guidelines on bursting firecrackers.

The Supreme Court, which had put a blanket ban on bursting firecrackers in 2017, had in 2018 relaxed its orders and allowed only ‘green crackers’ for a two-hour window from 8pm to 10pm on the Diwali evening. No green crackers were, however, available in the market last year.

This year, only two types of green firecrackers – anar and phuljhari - are available in the market and that too in short supply. Green crackers are an upgraded form of conventional crackers with 30% less emissions.

As Diwali approaches, the accused persons and their families are bitter and cautious. They are facing a tough time convincing the children in their families that this Diwali will be minus the fireworks.

Caught last year while lighting crackers, Abhishek Gola, a 30-year-old property dealer in Bhogal, said this Diwali, he will not buy even the legally available green crackers even though his four-year-old nephew has been pestering him. “For past few days he has been insisting that I buy firecrackers for him. What excuse will I give my nephew on Diwali evening? I am his favourite uncle, but I won’t be breaking the law a second time,” said Gola.

It was for his nephew that Gola had broken the law last Diwali. “I knew that bursting crackers after 10 pm was an offence, but my nephew had pestered me. It is difficult to explain the law to such a young boy,” said Gola.

Gola is a bitter man nearly a year later. “I don’t want to burst crackers anymore. There is so much confusion about the law, I wouldn’t know if I was breaking a law,” said Gola.

The people caught bursting firecrackers last year were booked under Indian Penal Code section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant). If convicted, a person can be jailed for up to a month or be fined R200 or be awarded both punishments.

So far, a few people have been let off by courts with fines or warnings while most others await a hearing.

“On one occasion, I was late to court. The second time, the judge didn’t come,” said Gola about his visits to the court.

In east Delhi’s Madhu Vihar, the family of event management executive Tarun Negi, waits his time in court even as his 12-year-old son, Gautam, has pledged not to burst firecrackers this year. Gautam remembers the “humiliation” heaped on his father at the Madhu Vihar police station.

In south Delhi’s Jangpura, the family of handicrafts trader Devesh Goyal, too have decided to abstain from firecrackers, irrespective of the availability of green crackers in the market. The Goyals are more wary of their neighbours than the police.

“At 10.03 pm last Diwali, my six-year-old nephew suddenly insisted that he wanted to light a cracker. He had just lit the cracker when police arrived on receiving a complaint from the neighbour and took me away to the police station,” said Goyal.

This time, Goyal’s father, Shiv Swaroop Goyal, has decided no more firecrackers. “I scold the children when they talk about crackers. I don’t want to give my neighbours another chance,” said the elderly man.

In east Delhi’s Mayur Vihar, 20-year-old Akash Deep Baruah and is family have pledged to celebrate a “quiet” Diwali this time. Last year, his father had run from pillar to post to get rid of the police case against him before apologising to the court.

“My parents feared that the criminal case against me would shatter their dreams of me bagging a government job,” said Baruah who insists that he was only watching other people light firecrackers.

While the police are yet to book people for bursting firecrackers this year, they have already begun a crackdown on illegal storage and sale of crackers. In separate cases, the police have so far arrested six men and seized 26,000 kilos of banned firecrackers.