Probe sale of banned manjha in Delhi: High court to police
The court was hearing a bunch of petitions filed by relatives of people, who died after their throats were slit by stray strings made of Chinese manjha while riding motorcylces
The Delhi high court directed the city police’s crime branch on Friday to investigate the manufacture, sale and storage in the Capital of banned Chinese “manjha”, a glass-coated synthetic string used to fly kites, and asked it to submit a “comprehensive status report” within six weeks.
“The fact that deaths are being caused due to Chinese manjha shows that there needs to be a stricter implementation of the ban. Young boys cannot die like this”, the court observed, adding, “Deaths of innocent persons caused due to Chinese manjha should be considered dereliction of duty.”
The court was hearing a bunch of petitions filed by the relatives of four people, who died after their throats were slit by stray kite strings made of Chinese manjha, in four separate incidents in 2021 and 2022. The pleas sought compensation from the city government and sought to ensure strict compliance with advisories and directions.
The Delhi government in 2017 banned the sale, production, manufacture and supply of threads made of nylon and plastic synthetic thread material and the National Green Tribunal in 2020 imposed a similar ban on use of nylon or synthetic thread material for kite flying.
On Friday, the court sought details of all markets where Chinese manjha is sold and asked whether shopkeepers are made aware of the ban on sale of such products and said investigation must be conducted against manufacturers and shopkeepers violating the ban.
The court sought the details of first information reports registered across the Capital pertaining to sale of Chinese manjha, including their current status and whether shopkeepers have been named in them as an accused or not.
“The report must also indicate if any proceedings have been initiated against the public, including tehsildars and sub-divisional magistrates, who are duty bound to implement orders banning sale and manufacture of Chinese manjha,” the court said.
The court asked the city government to again alert Delhi Police, sub-divisional magistrates, district magistrates, tehsildars and other officials regarding ban on Chinese manjha, while observing that since kite flying threads are primarily used by children and young persons, it is the “responsibility of the government to ensure that the harmful material is not available in the market”.
Asking the Delhi police to explore the feasibility of issuing an advisory on the use of “plastic guard” in bikes to render protection to the riders against Chinese manjha, the court asked authorities to issue “stern warning” to traders stating that strict action would be taken against them if the banned material is found at their shops.
The court posted the matter for hearing on April 12.