Two children died in identical accidents on Monday, as their throats were slit by the kite string, or maanja .
The first victim was a three-year-old girl. A stray string inflicted a deep cut on her throat when she was looking through the sunroof of a car held by her mother seated inside, close to where the family lives in North West Delhi’s Rani Bagh. The victim, Sanchi Goyal, was the only child of her parents Alok and Neha. The helpless parents watched their daughter bleed to death on the mother’s lap even as they rushed to a hospital in what turned out to be a vain attempt to save the little girl.
The incident took place around 7 p.m. on Monday. Police said the parents were in a state of trauma.
Held up by the mother, Sanchi was looking out when all of a sudden a maanja slashed her throat, some getting entangled as well. It took a few moments for it to dawn on the parents that Sanchi was injured, because the cut was so deep that it damaged a part of the vocal cord and the girl could not raise an alarm despite the pain, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North West) Vijay Singh.
In the second incident, a four-year-old boy, identified as Hari, died after his throat was slit by maanja after he stuck his head out from the sunroof of a car in West Delhi’s Tilak Nagar on Monday evening. The incident happened around 7.45 p.m. when Hari, who was in the car with his parents and sister, was coming from Janakpuri to Tilak Nagar.
Both the accidents happened in quick succession and barely hours after a young motorcyclist in Mianwali Nagar, whose neck got entangled in maanja , died.
