New Delhi: The Ujjain district administration has demolished the houses of at least two persons who were allegedly involved in the sale of banned ‘Chinese manjha’, while Madhya Pradesh’s home minister Narottam Mishra has warned people involved in the trade that action will be taken against them under the National Security Act (NSA).The glass-coated synthetic string, used to fly kites, is known to cause harm to animals and humans alike. At least two – including a minor girl – were injured in Ujjain over the past few days, cut by the manjha. The name ‘Chinese manjha’ is a misnomer, as the string is domestically produced, especially in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.According to Indian Express, ‘Chinese manjha’ is made of monofilament fishing lines that are melted and mixed with polymers. After the strings are formed, they are coated with glass. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned the sale of these strings across the country in 2017.The people whose houses were razed were identified as Mohammed Iqbal and Hitesh Bhojwani, according to reports. In both cases, the administration conducted an inquiry after seizing rolls of manjha and found that parts of their homes were constructed illegally. These parts were subsequently demolished. While Iqbal’s house was demolished on January 4, Bhojwani’s house was demolished on the next day.Not just Iqbal, Ujjain Admi also razed the alleged illegal home of Hitesh Bhojwani (40), a resident of ShreeRam Nagar on T’Day after Police allegedly found 48 banned Chinese string bundles in possession.Police also lodged FIR against Bhojwani under section 188 & 151 IPC.2/3 pic.twitter.com/SF5APnGf1e— काश/if Kakvi (@KashifKakvi) January 4, 2023Last year too, the Ujjain administration demolished three houses owned by people who were apprehended for selling the manjha. But unlike this year, officials had last year explicitly stated that the houses were demolished as “coercive” action.“We had circulated Section 144 orders prohibiting the sale of Chinese kite string but it could not stop the sale. Thereafter, going by the quantity seized and the fact that two out of three had previous history, we decided to take stringent action and their houses were demolished as a coercive action to stop sale of the banned kite string,” Ujjain collector Ashish Singh had told the Indian Express then.However, the state’s home minister Narottam Mishra alluded that this year too, coercive action will be taken. “The illegal construction in the house belonging to a man accused of selling Chinese Manjha has already been bulldozed in Ujjain. It is a warning for those who want to sell the dangerous string during the Makar Sankranti festival (January 14). The authorities can act under the National Security Act (NSA) against those caught selling Chinese Manja in MP,” he said, according to the New Indian Express.मध्यप्रदेश में चाइनीज मांझा बेचने वालों के खिलाफ सरकार रासुका की कार्रवाई करने पर विचार कर सकती है। pic.twitter.com/YzpZtNHe24— Dr Narottam Mishra (@drnarottammisra) January 5, 2023With Madhya Pradesh emerging as one of the states where the BJP has often deployed bulldozers as punitive punishment – especially on minorities, people raised apprehensions of disproportionate action. Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair asked why the properties of people were targeted instead of granting punishment according to the law.Is there no law and order in MP anymore? House of Iqbal & Hitesh were buldozed orders of Home Minister @drnarottammisra just because they sold/possessed imported Chinese Manja. Why can’t they be punished according to law, Why target their property? pic.twitter.com/breN934tog— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) January 7, 2023
