After Kollam temple fire tragedy, Kerala HC judge seeks ban on crackers
Kochi: Use of high decibel fire crackers must be banned at all Kerala temples, a senior Kerala High Court Judge suggested on Monday, seeking immediate judicial intervention by the court to stop “man-made” tragedies like Kollam mishap.
In a letter to Registrar General of the HC, Justice V. Chitambaresh said, “The time is more than ripe for immediate judicial intervention to stop such man-made tragedies by banning the use of high decibel explosive fire crackers.”
The ‘Devaswom Bench’ comprising Justices Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Anu Sivaraman will consider the petition on Tuesday afternoon. Justice Chitambaresh said, “The right to profess, practice and propagate the religion of one’s choice under Article 25 of the Constitution of India does not take in the freedom to use dangerous crackers.”
“Pyrotechnics display using ‘Amittu’, ‘Gundu’, ‘Kathinavedi’ etc have to be banned and at best only low decibel Chinese-type crackers can be permitted for display,” he said.
He urged the Registrar General to place his letter before Devaswom bench and consider if it could be treated as a Public Interest Litigation and appropriate interim orders passed. The Judge said the fireworks tragedy at Puttingal Devi Temple at Paravur in Kollam has left more than 100 people dead.
No nod for even normal fireworks
The fireworks at Paravur Puttingal Devi temple that claimed over 100 lives were carried out without any permission, even for a small-scale show. The local police and revenue authorities remained mute spectators to the blatant violation allegedly due to political pressure.
It has also come to light that the temple authorities had spread a false propaganda that they had got permission to carry out normal fireworks and even announcements in this regard were made.
The police and revenue officials failed to act even as they were aware that no permission was granted. Though the temple authorities had sought fresh permission for firework with 15 kg gun powder and the local police recommended that it may be allowed, no permission was granted.
