The Supreme Court said that human pyramids can’t go beyond 20 feet during the Dahi Handi festival on Krishna Janmashtami.
Dahi Handi is an Indian festival, celebrated every August/September, that involves making a human pyramid and breaking an earthen pot filled with curd tied at a convenient/difficult height.
This event is based on the legend of the child-god Krishna stealing butter. A participant in this festival is called a govinda or govinda pathak. It is mostly popular in the state of Maharashtra.
It is part of the main festival Gokulashtami, which is known as Krishna Janmashtami in the rest of the country, and celebrates the birth of Krishna. This is celebrated on the next of Krishna Janmashtami.
SC has rejected a last ditch attempt by an organisation to get over the restriction.
Declining the plea by a Dahi Handi trust seeking modification of an August 17 order, a bench of Justice Anil R. Dave, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice L. Nageswara Rao said that “in the last hearing we have asked the state how it was going to regulate the the large number of Dahi Handi events in Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra”.
As senior counsel Rajiv Dutta appearing for the applicant, Yougeshwari Trust, sought to assure the bench on the safety of the participants in the human pyramid, the bench observed: “You can’t give assurance (on safety) on behalf of all the 1,500 sansathans organising Dahi Handi festival”.