Dahi Handi: Will abide by SC orders, say Govinda teams

As the petition came up for hearing Wednesday afternoon, all Govinda teams were expecting a decision in their favour, but the order left them disheartened.

“We will not violate the court’s order but the situation has just removed the fun and competition from the game. Achieving a height of 20 feet only calls for formation of four layers, which can be done by any group and requires no special skill or more practice,” said Bala Padlekar, president of the Dahi Handi Utsav Samanvay Samiti or coordination committee.

“The groups had practised for years to increase the layers of the human pyramid and many had even achieved the mark of forming 10 layers during earlier practices,” Padleker added.

Many groups said the Govindas might lose the enthusiasm to participate.

“I am afraid the decision may just kill the old tradition of Maharashtra’s Dahi Handi festival and deter youngsters from practising for the competition,” said a Govinda team member.

“Unfortunately, our preparations have just gone waste. Our Govindas had been practising for the last four weeks…I fear the enthusiasm will not be the same,” said Deepak Ghadage, an organiser from the Ghodapdev area in central Mumbai.

Some organisers, however, said only a few groups who could build pyramids higher than 20 feet would be affected.

“It is true that the fun and adventure of the festival lies in the height of human pyramids. But now we have to follow the order and try to enjoy the festival with the given mandate. Also, the number of groups that can form seven to eight layers are fewer in comparison to those that go up to four layers and stick to the 20 feet rule,” said Pratap Sarnaik, Shiv Sena MLA and Dahi Handi organiser in Thane.

The police will keep a close watch on the festivities to check any violation of the rules.

“We will be on guard from early morning tomorrow. Through cameras and personal monitoring, we will keep a check on erring pandals and note down every detail. Though we may not take immediate action during the game as it may hurt public sentiments, every group’s modus operandi will be recorded,” said a police officer.

Earlier in the day, while declining to consider Dahi Handi festival as a sport, the Supreme Court refused to modify its order capping at 20 feet the height of the human pyramids made as part of the ritual observed on Janmashtami.

“Has it (festival) brought any medal in the Olympics? I belong to the city (Mumbai). I would have been happy if it had brought any medal,” observed a bench led by Justice Anil R Dave.

The bench added that this ritual had caused serious injuries to participants, particularly in their spinal chords.

“No, we are not modifying it (ceiling) for the time being…to increase the height is very scary,” it remarked.

Appearing for the Jogeshwari group that pleaded capping of the height of human pyramids would take the adventure out of the festival, its counsel said the highest height of a human pyramid at 43.79 feet had found mention in the Guinness Book of World Records and capping the height would be “unfair”.

However, the bench told the counsel he could not give assurance on behalf of all the organisations that “due care would be taken”.

“Moreover, it has been claimed that 1,500 people got injured in this function last year. Is it correct? How many people got injured last year,” the bench asked.

Appearing for Maharashtra, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, said, “As a matter of fact, risk factor is there in every sport…there was no data on record with regard to the number of injured persons.”

The bench, however, remained unimpressed and said it would not modify its order. More than 2,000 Dahi Handi mandals will celebrate the festival on Thursday.

(With ENS, New Delhi)