In a brazen violation of the Supreme Court order of limiting dahi handi height to 20 feet, organisers affiliated to Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena on Thursday not only tied up handis above the permissible limit but also challenged the police to initiate action against them. Height limit of human pyramid is 20 feet and age of a person is 18 years old and above. “If I need to break the law to safeguard Maharashtrian festivals, I am ready to do so”.
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Cases had been registered against 16 Govinda mandals in Thane, adjoining Mumbai for allegedly flouting court guidelines, a senior police official said.
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 unsafe performances like being part of the human pyramid of “Dahi-Handi” festival. The ritual involving “dahi-handi” symbolises the manner in which young Krishna stole butter from an earthen pot suspended from the ceiling.
Though the real story behind celebrating Dahi Handi, is the mischievous acts of Lord Krishna, there is also a philosophical significance attached to it.
His father Umesh, a fisherman, lamented, “I had told him to stay away from the dahi handi. but he has been participating for the last few years and didn’t want to skip it”.
Meanwhile, Mumbai Police has also made a decision to videograph the revelries as proof of any violation by organisers. Sena said the apex court has increased the work load on police, which will now have to keep a strict vigil on dahi handi celebrations to ensure that nobody breaks the orders.
Avinash Jadhav, MNS Thane city chief said.
The court had asked a Mumbai-based group which petitioned it to allow higher hands that Are you getting an Olympic medal also for this?
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“All those found flouting the Supreme Court norms shall be prosecuted depending on the kind of violations”, Dudhe warned, though police have not directly intervened to stop the celebrations.
