Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Chennai police finds WMD's - flying kites with manja

I'm not joking when I say this, Chennai police has the intelligence of a 3 year old. According to TR,
Flying a kite is an offence under Section 71 (Clause XIV) of the Madras City Police Act, 1888. This initiative is to safeguard the lives of the people, particularly children,” Commissioner of Police T. Rajendran said.

Apparently there have been so many cases where the euphoria of flying kites has caused significant loss to property and lives that the police is taking serious action:
They will now be booked under Sections of the IPC that provide for arrest and remand. Such acts of negligence cannot be ignored… parents and elders should create awareness among children on the hazards of kites. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Washermanpet) N.K. Senthamarai Kannan said 18 persons were taken into custody for flying kites with ‘maanja’. Police were trying to locate the suppliers of ‘maanja’ in Chennai.

The problem here is the use of maanja which can cause injury, personally having been at both ends of kite fighting. The larger issue is the negligence of parents and teachers in not educating their children the dangers of using glass and other abrasive materials to make maanja which could easily cause damage to biological tissue. Banning kites is akin to cutting off the nose to spite the face.
What next banning cricket on the streets because the balls can hit bystanders?

1 comment:

Hindu Fundamentalist said...

i found it a bit strange that they should ban kites. should the response not be creating awareness? what next? could we ask for banning pesticides because it is being used to commit suicide?