New Delhi :
Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to modify its order capping at 20 feet the height of human pyramid in Dahi Handi festival. The verdict comes after the apex court agreed to hear a fresh plea seeking to relax the cap of 20-feet height of the human pyramid fixed by it for the Dahi Handi ritual during Janmashtami festival in Maharashtra.
A bench comprising justices A R Dave, U U Lalit and L Nageswara Rao heard the plea on the issue as the festival is to be celebrated on Thursday across the country. The fresh plea was filed by Mumbai-based Jai Jawan Krida Mandal Govinda Pathak.
The organisation says that now that the youth below 18 years of age have been barred from participating in the Dahi Handi ritual, the cap on the height of the human pyramid should be relaxed as adventure is part of every sport. If there is no adventure in a game, then there is no point in celebrating it, the Krida Mandal says.
The Supreme Court had earlier refused to relax conditions put by the Bombay High Court like barring youths below 18 years of age from participating in ‘Dahi- Handi’ ritual of the Janmashtami festival in Maharashtra and capping the height of the human pyramid at 20 feet.
The bench had, however, suspended the operation of two directions passed by the High Court to regulate the ‘Dahi-Handi’ festival. One of the directions, suspended by the apex court, relates to amending the existing law to bar children below 18 years of age from participating in dangerous performances like being part of the human pyramid of ‘Dahi-Handi’ festival.
