Fact Check: No, the Supreme Court has not imposed blanket ban on firecrackers

Hyderabad: Ahead of Diwali, social media is abuzz with the claim that the Supreme Court has banned firecrackers across India in an order passed on November 7.

An X premium (formerly Twitter) user, while making the claim, wrote, “Hindus... firecrackers banned in the entire country. This time you will not be able to burst even a single firecracker, the Supreme Court’s order has come!!” (Translated from Hindi)

Several X users have claimed the same.

Fact Check

NewsMeter verified that the Supreme Court has only banned firecrackers containing specific chemicals which are harmful to health. This ban is not applicable to other types of firecrackers widely used across the country.

We ran a relevant keyword search and came across reports by Live Law and The Indian Express from November 7. NewsMeter also accessed the Supreme Court order of November 7.

As per the order on November 7, a bench of Justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh, while hearing an application that sought directions to the Rajasthan government to comply with the top court’s previous orders on banning firecrackers, did not issue any new regulations or ban on the use of firecrackers but only reiterated the ban on crackers containing barium salts, which was passed in 2021.

“We are of the opinion that no specific orders would be necessary in the application inasmuch as this court in the course of dealing with the petition, has passed several orders where the steps have been indicated to minimise and to avoid air as well as noise pollution,” the order said.

We then went through the 2021 Supreme Court’s order on firecrackers where the court ‘made clear that there is no total ban on the use of firecrackers. Only those firecrackers are banned… which are found to be injurious to health and affecting the health of the citizens, more particularly the senior citizens and the children.”

In the order, the Supreme Court prohibited only the use of firecrackers containing Barium salts and other harmful chemicals and did not impose a total ban on the use of firecrackers. The court had also noted that the order was blatantly violated and warned that top officials at various levels ‘shall be held personally liable’ for any lapses.

Even in the 2018 order, the Supreme Court explained its stand against a total ban on firecrackers. It had only set time slots for bursting firecrackers allowing a slot between 8 pm and 10 pm on Diwali and between 11:55 pm and 12:30 am for New Year and Christmas.

In the November 7 order, the court asked the state of Rajasthan to ‘take note… and take all steps to minimise air and noise pollution, not only during the festival season but even after that.”

Hence, as per the latest order, it is clear that the Supreme Court has only asked the governments to refer to its previous orders on the issue and did not mention a blanket ban on bursting firecrackers across India.

We conclude that the claim of the Supreme Court imposing a blanket ban on firecrackers in its November 7 order is false.