Fact-Check: No, Supreme Court Did Not ‘Ban’ Firecrackers Across India

This claim is misleading. The Supreme Court has reiterated its previous order on regulating firecrackers in India.

Fact-Check: The Supreme Court has not banned firecrackers in India but has issued regulations against barium-based chemicals in crackers across country.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

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While hearing an application on Tuesday, 7 November, the Supreme Court of India, clarified its earlier directions from 2021 against the use of barium and banned chemicals in firecrackers and said that the restrictions were applicable across all states in India and not only the Delhi-NCR region.

This comes after the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) announced a complete ban on firecrackers till 1 January 2024 following the high levels of pollution recorded in Delhi.

However, several social media users claimed that the apex court has issued a "complete ban on firecrackers" in the country.

An archive can be here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Similar archives can be seen here and here.)

Is this true?: No, the Court has not banned all firecrackers across India.

• Supreme Court has clarified that its earlier directions against using banned chemicals in firecrackers are applicable across the country and not just in Delhi.

• The Court also specified that not all firecrackers have been banned in the country.

How did we find out the truth?: On performing a relevant keyword search, we came across an article shared by Live Law on 7 November.

• The article stated that the Supreme Court has not issued any new regulations or ban on the use of firecrackers ahead of the festival of Diwali but only reiterated the ban on crackers containing barium salts which was announced in 2021.

• "The bench had also clarified that there is no total ban on firecrackers", added the report to emphasise that there are certain regulations on the use of crackers across India.

There is no ban on firecracker across India.

(Source: Live Law/Screenshot)

• The article also mentions that in 2021, a bench comprising Justices MR Shah and AS Bopanna issued several directions to ensure that the use of barium-based chemicals in firecrackers was banned.

• The order only allowed the use of "green crackers".

• In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled against imposing a complete ban on firecrackers.

• The Court had, however, banned online sale of firecrackers and fixed a duration and allocated locations for the bursting of crackers.

• The same was also reported by India Today and News18.

What are green crackers?: According to the CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR NEERI), green crackers are firecrackers with a smaller shell, and no ash or additives such as dust suppressants to reduce emissions.

• They are free from barium compounds which gives them their distinctive green colour.

• Green firecrackers produce sounds between 110 and 125 decibels, whereas conventional firecrackers make sounds of around 160 decibels.

We have contacted the SC registry and the story will be updated once we have a response.

Conclusion: There is no complete ban on firecrackers in India, the Supreme Court has issued regulations against barium-based chemicals in firecrackers across the country.

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