Delhi govt imposes ban on Chinese manja, after it claims three lives

Two children and a youth died on Independence Day as Chinese kite string (manja), coated with powdered glass, slit their throats in separate incidents across the national capital, prompting the Delhi government to finally ban the killer thread.

All the incidents took place within a span of four hours yesterday.

In another case, a Delhi Police Sub-Inspector sustained minor injuries as a kite string grazed his neck when he was returning to Anand Vihar police station after Independence Day duty.

The first incident took place around 6.30 PM on August 15, a day that sees frenzied kite flying across the city, when three-year-old Saanchi Goyal was returning home with her parents after watching a movie in Naraina.

The girl was peering out of the open sunroof of the car when her neck got slit by a hanging thread in the Rani Bagh area, a police officer said. She was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors declared her brought dead. "A case has been registered under section 304(A) (causing death by negligence) and we have to determine whether it was Chinese manja that took the girl's life," said Vijay Singh, DCP (Northwest).

Neighbours said that Saanchi was the only child of her parents. Her father, Alok Goyal runs a wood business while her mother is a homemaker. She was a nursery student of Bal Bharati School Pitampura.

The other child identified as four-year-old Harry had a similar end as manja-laden thread connected to a stray kite inflicted fatal injuries on his neck. He was looking outside the sunroof of the car at the Tilak Nagar area when the thread got wrapped around his neck leaving him profusely bleeding. Police has registered a case under Section 304 A (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of IPC in the case.

"The child accompanied by his parents and six-year-old sister was returning home around 8 PM when the incident occurred on the flyover near Janakpuri district centre. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him dead," said a senior police officer.

In west Delhi's Vikaspuri area, a 22-year-old man, Zafar Khan, lost his life as his neck was slashed by a the lethal thread while he was riding motorbike on a flyover. The family members, who are in a state of shock, could not even interact with the cops to furnish details, police said.