Supreme Court firm no Dahi Handis over 20 ft

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused the plea for increasing the height of ‘Dahi Handi’ (human pyramids) during the Janmashtami festival in Maharashtra over and above 20 ft as it will be scary to do so.

A bench of Justices Anil R. Dave, Uday Lalit and L. Nageswara Rao, told counsel for the applicant and additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, for Maharashtra, “Are you getting an Olympic medal also for this Then we will be happy.”

The counsel for petitioner pleaded for relaxing the height restriction saying the sport is famous and earned a place in the Guinness book of World Records because of how tall each human pyramid can get.

The applicant Jai Jawan Krida Mandal Govinda Pathak from Mumbai, submitted that since youth below 18 years of age are not allowed to participate in the ritual, the height cap should then be increased. The organisation said that adventure is a part of every sport.

The ASG supported the petitioner and said “height is the charm of the game and courts can consider increasing the height to 25 feet from 20 ft.” The bench, which last week had said children below 18 years can’t participate in the formation of Dahi Handis, declined to entertain the fresh application for relaxation.

The high court disposed of the PIL on 11.8.2014 directing the state government to modify its circular and to increase the age of the performers from 12 years to 18 years; asking the state government to amend section 143 B of the Maharashtra Police Act in respect of dangerous performances and include Dahi Handi as a dangerous performance; to fix the height of Dahi Handi not more than 20 ft and further directed the state government to issue appropriate directions forthwith to ensure that the organisers of Dahi Handi festival provide safety measures at the venue of the performance. The apex court while banning children had put a cap on the height of human pyramids.