NEW DELHI: July 20, 2023. 7-year-old Neha (name-changed), was delighted as she headed to a Paschim Vihar market in west Delhi with her father to buy new clothes. The family of four, father, mother and two kids, the 7-year-old daughter and her 13-year-old sister, left home on scooter.
Wind stroking her curls, the jolly girl stood in front of the scooter as her father drove the two-wheeler, her mother and sister as pillion riders. Then, came a sharp interruption.
Near Guru Harkishan Nagar, a nearly-invisible thread affixed to a kite dangling in the sky wrapped itself around the young girl’s neck and slit her throat without a hesitation. Blood spraying from her little throat, the father rushed his daughter to a hospital; only too late. She was brought in dead.
This is not an isolated case; every year, deaths due to the kite strings are reported from across the country. The number of incidents involving ‘Chinese manjha’ is the highest in the last week of July and early days of August when kite flying is most common.
Banned, yet in use
The problem lies in the thread, popularly known as Chinese manjha. The manufacturers of of the string use glass and metal powders to coat the line, making it extremely sharp; this can cause grievous, even fatal injuries, to humans and birds.
After much deliberations, Delhi government had banned the sale, production, storage, supply, import, and use of kite-flying threads made out of nylon, plastic or any other synthetic material, and lines which are sharp or artificially sharpened by lacing with glass, metal or any other materials in the NCT of Delhi in 2017. However, even after seven years of prohibition, the dangerous thread continues to claim lives.
Cops tough
The police in the capital are on toes to avert such tragedies and are vigorously conducting raids to nab suppliers of Chineses manjha and other prohibited kite-flying implements. Senior officials say they have mounted a strict vigil round the clock on those involved in the manufacture, sale, storage, purchase, and use of the banned Chinese manjha.
To put a stop to this menace, senior officials even roped in the Crime Branch, which in a series of operations has nabbed several people, recovering a big stash of the killer manjha.
Till August 8, a total of 147 FIRs have been registered while over 13,000 rolls of the banned kite line have been seized during this process. “These banned kite-flying threads are stronger due to coating of metallic powder and are very dangerous due to its innocuous nature which makes it easy for birds to get tangled while flying,” a senior police officer told this newspaper.
Sharp due to powdered metal coating, Chinese manjha easily slices through flesh, leaving humans, animals and birds gravely injured. “While there is a ban on all types of such manjha, many vendors sell it. Most offenders get away as they are difficult to trace,” police says.
A look at history
The tradition of kite flying around August 15 can be traced back to the freedom struggle. British politico John Simon arrived in India in 1928 to study constitutional reforms in Britain’s most valued possession. The Simon Commission was rejected by Indians; ‘Simon Go Back’ slogans rented the air. In such a time, some chose to fly kites with ‘Simon Go Back’ written on it. India gained freedom, but the tradition stuck.