India, Oct. 14 -- The Supreme Court wants a "pragmatic and practical" way to regulate firecrackers. On Monday, a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant said it would respect religious sentiments and warned that people would see a restrictive orderas coercion. It then tied the Delhi-NCR case to the national one before Justice MM Sundresh, whose bench cleared "next-generation" laris (string fireworks) across the country on September 30, and both will be heard on October 15.

The most practical words in the courtroom came from the amicus curiae, senior advocate Aparajita Singh. "It is nice to say that crackers should be burst for (only) two hours. Cops cannot be there on every street," she told the bench, and asked that the Commission for ...