Calcutta High Court on Monday directed police to strictly enforce a ban with immediate effect on Chinese manja and nylon and synthetic threads used to fly kites.

Chief Justice T.B. Radhakrishnan and Justice Arijit Banerjee directed police to take “stern action” against people violating the ban.

“The ban on the use of Chinese manja as well as nylon or synthetic threads during flying of kites should be strictly enforced by the police with immediate effect,” the order said. “The police are directed to take stern measures against the person found guilty of violating the court order.”

The order followed a public interest litigation filed by advocate Amit Kumar Das.

Several motorcyclists have either been injured or killed by kite threads while moving on the AJC Bose Road flyover and the Parama flyover.

In mid-2017, an advocate died because of Chinese manja (a mixture of glass powder and gum) in the Kidderpore area. Citing the death of his colleague, advocate Das had told the court that the court should ban the use of Chinese manja in the state.

After hearing the petition, a division bench of the court in November 2017 had directed the city and the state police to issue notifications prohibiting the use of Chinese manja while flying kites.

Das said on Tuesday the negligent attitude of the police had resulted in deaths and accidents in the city and suburbs in 2018 and 2019. “In October 2019, when a person was severely injured by Chinese manja, I moved the court again… even after the court directive, the city police had failed to take steps to stop the use of Chinese manja,” he said.

“The application had been pending in court and in recent months a tragic incident took place on the Parama flyover. That prompted me to knock before the division bench of the chief justice.”

On March 25, the city and state police issued separate notifications banning the use of Chinese manja while flying kites.

Since then the city police have raided places around the Parama flyover and arrested some people and seized spools and manja used to fly kites.