Tanvi Sinha
In the 901st Suo Moto public interest litigation no. 8 of 2020 declared on January the 1st 2021, the Bombay High Court took cognizance of the illegal sale of nylon threads that are typically sold during Makar Sankranti for flying kites even after being expressly banned by the government.
This decision was taken by the Registrar and High Court of judicature of Bombay Bench at Aurangabad in a case versus the State of Maharashtra.
The case was taken coram in the presence of Ravindra V. Ghuge & Smt. Vibha Kankanwadi, JJ (Vacation Bench) with the issue being the sale of such threads even after banning of the material.
The material is extremely dangerous according to the information that was given to the courts by the 6 police stations who had their representative in the form of Commissioner of Police Aurangabad.
The police had presented two Times of India articles one of which spoke of a woman dying because of the thread slitting her throat. There is also information that was brought to the surface by an ornithologist that stated that numerous birds were the victims to the thread when it was used to fly kites.
A report on the thread by The Live Nagpur had a doctor who was in contact with the paper speak of how the Nylon thread or the “Chinese Manja” can be harmful and can slash the neck if it gets trapped in the body and can cause numerous injuries if to a person’s hands and suggested using normal threads which are perfect for the safety issues stated above.
A shopkeeper in conversation with the paper spoke of how the thread, being sharp and strong helps to cut the string of other kites in the festival and is hence loved by children and retains the happiness people get from flying kites in the festival.
The Bombay HC bench also observed that out of the 16 police stations that had registered the complaint only 6 and not even half had taken any action to the HC to ban the sale which brought forward a question of how well the situation was being handled by the executive.
The Amicus Curiae of the court then ordered for all police stations within the 12 districts to heed its order of taking note of this action and effectively performing to reduce the use of the banned materials keeping in mind the directions of the National Green Tribunal and that of the present court and the details of which would have to be taken by the executive by 5th January 2021.
The order would not just apply to sellers but also individuals who use the product, and any harm that would come from the products to animals and individuals would have the officials responsible be punished by the court.