The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi Police to conduct a comprehensive investigation across Delhi over the illegal sale of Chinese Manjha.

The bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh has sought a detailed report from the Delhi Police on all the markets and e-commerce portals, where these threads and manjha are being sold.

The Court has directed that the report shall specify the status of the FIRs registered against the persons selling such material.

“It is made clear that any status reports which would show that action has been taken, would have to be detailed and include the current position in these FIRs and whether chargesheets have been filed or not. It should also give the data on the accused persons who have been identified and whether the said cases are being prosecuted diligently or not.”, the Court directed.

The Court was dealing with a batch of petitions which highlighted the deaths caused allegedly due to slitting of throats by kite flying thread made of polyester, nylon, plastic or any other synthetic material etc., also known colloquially as Chinese Manjha being used for flying kites in Delhi.

Advocate Siddarth Agarwal appeared for the petitioners whereas ASC Anuj Aggarwal appeared for the State of NCT of Delhi. CGSC Ajay Digpaul appeared for Union of India.

The Court noted that despite the ban, deaths are still stated to be caused due to `Chinese Manjha’.

“The Court is constrained to observe that despite all these steps being taken, the fact that deaths are still stated to be caused due to `Chinese Manjha’ shows that there needs to be a strict implementation of the ban.”, the Court noted.

The Court observed that it appeared that `Chinese Manjha’ is being produced domestically in India as well, therefore, the Court ordered that the manufacturers and importers of the `Chinese Manjha’, as also the shopkeepers of the shops where the same is being sold, would have to be proceeded against in accordance with law.

The Court directed that the concerned Police and law enforcement authorities should conduct periodic inspections to ensure that such material is not sold.

The Court also directed that GNCTD and all the SDMs, DMs, Tehsildars and other officials shall all be alerted once again of the ban orders against `Chinese Manjha.

The Court also sought the response to the petitioner’s prayer for compensation.

At the end of the hearing, the counsel for the Petitioner submitted that a plastic guard can be installed on bikes in order to render protection to riders of the bikes.

“…the Delhi Police shall examine the feasibility of issuing an advisory in respect of use of such protective guards and place the same before this Court.”, the Court held.

Cause Title- Ishwar Singh Dahiya v. State of NCT of Delhi & Ors. ( Neutral Citation Number 2023/DHC/001013)

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Delhi High CourtJustice Prathiba M Singh

Ashish Shaji