Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the Bombay High Court restriction regarding the height of the pyramids and the age group of the participants in the Dahi Handi festival.
On Friday, a Bench of Justice V M Kanade and Justice P D Kode ordered that the height of human pyramids shall not exceed 20 feet, besides banning the participation of children below 18 years in their formation. It also asked the Maharashtra government to issue a notification in this regard under the Bombay Police Act or any other relevant law.
It was on a PIL filed by Social activist Swati Patil seeking to impose restrictions on the participation of children in the formation of the human pyramid that the High Court issued the order. The Maharashtra government had also submitted that it was in favour of such a move.
Incidentally, two 'Govinda kids' – Kiran Terkar, 14 and Hrishikesh Patil, 18 hailing from Navi Mumbai and Jogeshwari respectively – had died after falling down while practising to break the handi two days ago.
Children are often made a part of the pyramid-making team as they are lighter and they can easily scale the heights.
