Editor's Pick of the Day - A Case of Exploding Firecrackers at the Supreme Court

September was a blockbuster month for the Supreme Court. October... not so much. With the Sabarimala decision proving very controversial, the apex court’s decision on the use of firecrackers during Diwali, or Deepavali, was being observed closely.

The court has now ruled that firecrackers can be used only between specific hours on Deepavali. And not just Diwali, the court extended the ruling to other occasions as well, like Christmas and New Year’s Eve. The order says firecrackers can only be used between 8.00 pm and 10.00 pm during Diwali, and between 11.45 pm and 12.45 am during Christmas and New Year’s.

Judges AK Sikri, AM Sapre and Ashok Bhushan reverted to the court’s own November 2016 decision that suspended the sale of firecrackers in order “...to test itself to find out whether there would be a positive effect of this suspension, particularly during Deepavali period.”

Before we discuss today’s verdict, it would help us to recall the background to this entire case. AKA, why is the Supreme Court even talking about Diwali crackers?