At least 318 persons were booked across Tamil Nadu for bursting fireworks outside of the time limit imposed by the state government on Diwali this year.
The government had set 6 am to 7 am and 7 pm to 8 pm as the timings to burst fireworks in the state, the same as last year.
According to data from the Tamil Nadu police, Virudhunagar police booked 99 persons for bursting crackers beyond the time limit imposed by the government, which is the highest in the state. Thanjavur, Erode, Theni and Tiruppur City recorded 1 case each on Sunday for bursting fireworks beyond the state-allocated timings. Tiruvallur district recorded 67 cases, Nilgiris district recorded 24 cases and Dharmapuri recorded 17 cases of illegal bursting of firecrackers on Diwali day.
While Madurai rural police booked 37 people for bursting crackers beyond the timings, Madurai city police booked 25 cases and Salem city police recorded 34 cases of illegal bursting of fireworks. Tirunelveli rural police booked 11 persons as per the data released by the police. Meanwhile, the data from Chennai and Tiruppur have not been released by the police. The police have also not mentioned the number of persons arrested under these charges.
In 2018, over 2,100 cases were registered across Tamil Nadu for bursting crackers outside of the timings set by the state government. 650 persons were arrested and let out on station bail against these cases.
On October 23, 2018, the Supreme Court passed an order restricting the bursting of fireworks to a two-hour window between 8 pm and 10 pm for Diwali across the country. However, the Tamil Nadu government moved the top court urging it to modify its order to respect the traditions of the people of Tamil Nadu, who burst crackers in the morning of Diwali.
On October 30, 2018 the apex court modified its earlier order directing state governments to fix a time slot for bursting of crackers not exceeding the two-hour time window specified in the earlier order.