The hearing on the case of using of glass coated thread, called manjha used for kite flying came up in the Supreme Court’s National Green Tribunal (NGT) again on April 12 and the court has completed hearings and reserved its judgment.

The petition, submitted by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is also being heard by the NGT bench of Justice Swatanter Kumar (Chairperson), Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore (Judicial Member) and Bikram Singh Sajwan (Expert Member).

In the last hearing, the state of Gujarat and other states objected to the banning of manjha, though every state has agreed to the ban on Chinese manjha.

The states, in their submission, argued that kite flying is a sport and game continuing since ages and the use of glass-coated thread is essential because the whole game is about “cutting” the other kite. The counsel further argued that the risk of injuries in this sport or game is the same as that of any other game and sport. And this should be allowed and the tribunal should not interfere with this.

On April 12, the counsel for nylon thread industries intervened in the matter and stated that they have got their products checked by various government and private agencies, and according to these findings, nylon threads are bio-degradable and do not affect the birds and environment adversely.

The counsel also insisted that the states have no objection to the banning of Chinese manjha. They said that cotton, glass-coated thread should be allowed as it doesn’t affect any living being and chances of injury in kite flying is the same as in any other sport.

The NGT reserved its judgement.

—By India legal Bureau