High Court dismissed PIL seeking direction to Delhi govt on kite flying

Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a PIL seeking direction to Delhi government to restrict the timing and place of kite flying.

Division Bench constituting of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Harishankar while refusing to entertain the petition observed that "how to enjoy a festival depends on the 'wisdom' of an individual"

"There is no hard and fast rule on the enjoyment of the festival. If anyone is getting hurt, the same person can come to court. The court was more concerned with the violation of the law," the Bench observed.

Advocate Rishi Pal appearing for the petitioner Mohit Ghalyan also sought a report on the steps taken by Delhi government to stop the menace of Chinese "Manjha".

"Several deaths were caused by kite strings despite the ban on the production, storage and sale of metal or glass coated kite thread called Manjha but the number of incidents reveals that the said ban was restricted only to papers and not on the ground," the plea claimed.

The petition also suggested that the Delhi police and civic authorities must have launched a crackdown on selling of Chinese Manjha.

"From the last several years, many birds, as well as people, continued to be at risk. The law is effective only when imbibed in spirit. The state agencies shall put their best endeavours to stop such incidents and shall not let become a human life part of somebody's game for example kite flying. No entertainment or sports is worth the death of life whether human or non-human," said the petition.

The petition also had stated that no public guidelines have been published at kite shops and the government has not made endeavours through radio, newspapers and TV advertisements to educate the people about the menace of Chinese Manjha.