Birds continue to fall prey to manja mayhem

MUMBAI: Suddenly, the birds dropped from above. As kites zig-zagged into the skies, their sharp-edged manjas cut into the winged creatures who fell from the heavens, with deep injury to body parts.

SPCA at Parel treated at least 112 birds which had manja injury in just two days. Many were badly injured and were bleeding, says Dr Mayur Dangar, manager at SPCA. “This year’s worst case was this pigeon with its wing cut. It was sutured but didn’t survive,” said Dr Dangar.

Injured birds taken to Help Animals and Birds, a veterinary hospital at Masjid Bunder, were also one too many, says Jayesh Shah. “But the birds have been coming in for a month now. People started flying kites even before Makar Sankranti,” says Shah, whose hospital has a special enclosure for kites. “Kites tend to get injured given the way they fly with wings extended…,” he explains, pointing out that we need to take a good look at the way we celebrate. “It’s costing living creatures their life.”

TOI reported on January 16 about three having sustained severe injury due to the sharp-edged manja and two of them may very likely never be able to fly. The birds are being treated at Dr Rina Dev’s clinic at Bandra.

It’s unfair the way we treat these natural beauties, opines ornithologist Adesh Shivkar. “Flamingos fly in from Gujarat and birds, like waders for instance, come in from Siberia and Russia,” he says, pointing out some of our customs are taking a dangerous turn. “Flying kites has been an old custom, but this trend to use Chinese manja is certainly not part of our tradition,” he says, adding that the Chinese variety of kite string can be had for the asking on e-commerce sites. “For our fun and entertainment, we’re putting lives of humans and birds at risk.”



Amid all that mayhem of bird injuries, there’s a bright side to the issue. Animal activists said the number of kites being flown and the number of injury to birds has been seeing a fall over time. Sandip Shah, an independent rescuer from south Mumbai, said there is a “drastic reduction” in injured birds being found, thanks to awareness. “In 2012, around Jan 14, we had rescued 103 injured birds around a small area… This year, we did not have a single bird.” He added that they found only one kite with its feet entangled in manka, but it was lucky to be set free.

His view is echoed by Shakuntala Majumdar, president of Thane CPCA, a veterinary facility for animals. “I often feel that the number of injured birds is inflated.”




Kaushal Shah of Ahimsa Charitable Trust says they held an awareness rally in Bhayander with 1,000 kids joining in. The impact was there to see. “This time, there were fewer kite-flyers and fewer injured cases,” he says. Seems the future generation is flying in the right direction.

Manjha legal history
Available for Rs 1,500, the Chinese manjha – a generic name for any synthetic thread used to fly a kite which is coated with ground glass instead of cotton – has left a trail of violence in the past few years.

The latest is the mutilation of several flamingos in Mumbai, which has left two unable to fly. In fact, the “hit” rate of the Chinese manjha has seen 12 kites, four parrots, two cuckoos, nine crows and 22 pigeons needing to be rescued due to injuries.

Earlier this month, the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court ordered all local administrations, municipal corporations and councils and police authorities to “maintain the pace and tempo of initiating actions against the use of nylon manja” for kite-flying.

The instructions came on a Bombay High Court suo motu PIL based on a TOI report.

In the first month of 2024 alone, numerous deaths have been reported from across the country. While a 21-year-old died in Borivli in Mumbai from a manjha injury, four people in Gujarat – including a four year old – fell victim while another man in Madhya Pradesh suffered death due to the treacherous thread of a kite.

Mumbai Police has banned the use or sale of nylon manjhas from January 12 to February 10. This was done in view of Makar Sankranti festival which sees hundreds fly kite as part of festivities.

The fact though is that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had banned the use of Chinese manjhas, or synthetic threads coated with glass, way back in 2017.

The order had come months after the government of Delhi had come out with a notification, banning the use and sale of Chinese manjhas, in January of 2017.

On ground however, the sale and use of these death threads continue. Last year, a seven year old girl riding with her father in Delhi’s Paschim Vihar, had her throat slit by a manjha, and died from her injuries.

Popular with children and young enthusiasts who fly kites, the Chinese manjha, which is a glass coated thread made of polyester, nylon, plastic or any synthetic material, is favoured as it allows the kite-flyer to cut the manjha of the other person, in the true spirit of competition.

Asia’s largest wholesale market – Sadar Bazar – is famous for the easy availability of Chinese manjha, despite the ban by NGT as well as Delhi government.

In 2023, the Delhi Police registered a total of less than 300 cases for the sale of the banned manjha, while the year before, it had registered 271 cases, as per records shared by the authorities.

Prosecution however, remains lax. For instance, in Delhi, the maximum punishment for the offence of selling manjhas – prescribed under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code – is imprisonment for up to only six months or a fine up to Rs 1,000 or both. Interestingly, no one booked in Delhi for this offence since the 2017 ban has been jailed so far.

Most of the manjhas sold in Delhi come from Firozabad, Bareilly, Meerut and Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Rohtak in Haryana.

Courts meanwhile, have been trying to prompt local authorities to take action, give status reports, and initiate awareness programmes.

In 2023, Delhi High Court’s Justice Pratibha Singh laid stress on the implementation of the government ban, noting it is the responsibility of the State to ensure that harmful kite flying threads and manjha are not made readily available in the market for sale.

It's a point that the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court also cited in its order. It also asked for initiation of necessary awareness programmes in educational institutions every year between October and March, along with awareness posters in public places.