Police said the arrested accused, Ashwani Kumar Mourya (25), said he had sold the banned manjhas since the metallic powder coating made them stronger than normal threads. (Representative File Photo)Three shopkeepers were arrested in Northwest Delhi on Wednesday and Thursday for allegedly selling banned metal-coated kite strings (Chinese manjha).
A drive to apprehend sellers of these kite strings was initiated after the recent death of a man in Pitampura, whose neck was slit by the string of a stray kite. The victim, Sumit Kumar, was heading home on his bike when the string got tangled in his neck. He fell off his bike and collapsed, and locals rushed him to a hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.
Special Staff police said that on Wednesday, they received information regarding sale of these threads by a shopkeeper in Shalimar Bagh. A decoy customer was sent to the gift shop and was allegedly sold a banned manjha roll. Following this, police raided the shop and recovered 20 such rolls. Police said the arrested accused, Ashwani Kumar Mourya (25), said he had sold the banned manjhas since the metallic powder coating made them stronger than normal threads.
Mahendra Park police also received information regarding the sale in Bhadolla village and raided two shops on Thursday. Police arrested Sagar (26) and Ajay (24) and recovered 31 and 104 rolls of the banned strings from their shops respectively. Police also urged the public to avoid these threads, which could cause fatal injuries.
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DCP (Northwest) Usha Rangnani said: “The banned kite threads are stronger due to their metallic powder coating but are dangerous. Due to the sharp coating, it easily causes grave injuries to humans, animals, and birds.”
The DCP added that storage, sale and use of these threads were banned under a CrPC section 144 order (order in urgent case of nuisance/ apprehended danger).
An FIR was filed against all three shopkeepers under IPC section 188 (disobeying order of public servant) and Environment Protection Act sections 5 (power to give directions) and 15 (contravening provisions of act).
Chinese manjha is coated with glass and metal particles and often leads to accidents before Independence Day and festivities. While the National Green Tribunal had ordered a ban on all types of such manjha, many vendors still sell it. Most offenders get away as it is difficult to trace them.
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