LAHORE, Feb 9: A young man was killed and over 100 injured during Basant celebrations on Saturday night and Sunday.

Women clad in yellow dresses and men wearing colourful scarves that reached down to their ankles, who might have been dancing to drum beat some hours ago, rushed to the Mayo Hospital to mourn the death of a family member.

Engrossed in a kite-flying competition, 22-year-old Aqeel Ahmad fell down from the top of a five-storey building at Habib Ganj in Misri Shah.

“It took seconds. We could not even give him a signal,” one of the mourners said. He said all the family members rushed downstairs and found Aqeel unconscious and critically injured. He was immediately taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. His body was returned to the family without autopsy.

In other Basant-related incidents, over 100 people, including 35 children, were admitted to different city hospitals. Of them, 45 were being treated at the Mayo Hospital when this report was filed late Sunday night.

The hospital sources said people were injured after falling from rooftops, electrocuted due to the contact of kites’ metal wire with live electricity wires, or hit by stray bullets as Basant enthusiasts resorted to aerial firing.

Around 11 people were hit by stray bullets in various parts of the city, four of them critically.

On the other hand, heavy police contingents were deployed in various places, especially those known for Basant celebrations like hotels, guest houses and Havelis inside the Walled City.

However, the police did not sniff mouths or ask for marriage documents from Basant buffs who roamed around the city throughout the Saturday night and Sunday. Most of the policemen deployed outside hotels or at roadside were either seen gossiping or just enjoying the festive atmosphere.

“We know the people are just enjoying the event and we don’t want to disturb them,” a policeman standing along The Mall said and claimed that the police had been directed by the senior command to restrict their activities to keeping an eye on law and order.

City police chief Khwaja Khalid Farooq said he had set an example by not disturbing the people on occasions like New Year’s Night and Basant. “Just go after those who do something to disturb public life and don’t intercept those who are just celebrating the gala,” he quoted the directions given to his force on the eve of Basant.

However, he said he had given clear directions to the force to keep a strict check on aerial firing, loud music, firecrackers and use or sale of metal and chemical wires for kite-flying. He said he did not have the exact figure, but added that hundreds of cases had been registered against the offenders.