Kolkata Police lodge cases against 92 under Explosives Act

KOLKATA: Among the 1,075 persons arrested for flouting norms on Kali Puja and Diwali night, cases have been slapped under the stringent Explosives Act against 92 persons.
In 2020, 31 people were prosecuted under this penal provision, which has a three-year prison term, if proved.
Kolkata Police’s Bomb Disposal Squad will monitor the investigations of all these 92 cases from local police stations.
Public prosecutor Sourin Ghosal said, “Ths section of the 9B (1) (2) of Explosives Act is slapped every time we find that there has been illegal stocking of firecrackers. This attracts a three-year term. In comparison, section 188 IPC, which is drawn up when a government order is violated, has lesser punishment, which can be for a few months and a fine of Rs 200.”
The seizures of banned firecrackers, said sources, continued even on Sunday — the fifth successive day since Diwali. The total seizures have now gone up to 8,827 kg.
“We have arrested a seller who was selling around 70 kg of fire crackers under Hare Street police station. He had come from Bongaon. And when we found four persons transporting 12 cartons of chocolate bombs at the Tarachand Dutta Street at Jorasanko, all of them hailing from Rajasthan, we instantly knew it was an organized racket and slapped the 9 (B)
(1) (b) of the Explosives Act,” said an OC of a police station which has lodged three cases under the Explosives Act.
In the past two years, complaints were reported at Shyampukur, Belghoria, Uttarpara, Lake Town, Golabari and Maheshtala. The police had detained at least 15 people. In none of the cases, the detained persons could be held back at the police stations for more than three hours, sources said.
According to environmentalist Subhas Datta and others, the existing laws are inadequate to curb the bursting of firecrackers. “We have to run around so much to create awareness because our laws are weak,” a Sabuj Mancha representative said.