On this year's Krishna Janmashtami, Maharashtra will witness no "Bal Govindas" breaking the pot at the Dahi Handi celebrations after the Supreme Court on Wednesday restrained children below 18 years from taking part in the dangerous pyramid formation.
The court also capped the maximum height of the human pyramid to 20 feet and directed organisers to get permission 15 days in advance from the State authorities attaching proof of date of birth to ensure compliance of its direction.
Although the order was passed in the interest of keeping children away from this dangerous event, the SC directive has dampened the spirits of the Dahi Handi Mandals across Maharashtra, with just a week to go for the festivities to begin.
Dahi Handi is the major attraction on Janmashtami which is a depiction of how lord Krishna used to steal cream (maakhan) from earthen pots by breaking them. For this purpose, an earthen pot filled with dahi (curd) and fruits is tied to a rope placed at a height not less than 20 to 30 feet. A human pyramid is formed extending to over 30 feet and usually it is a child, being lightweight, who climbs at the end to break the pot.
Finding the event too dangerous for children, a Bench of Justices AR Dave and l Nageshwar Rao said, "People get hurt. We have heard lord Krishna stealing 'maakhan' but we have not heard the lord performing acrobatics."
With the Bombay High Court in August 2014 already imposing curbs on participation of children below 18 years and a height ceiling of 20 feet, the apex court said, "We will continue with the Bombay High Court order relating to banning participation of youth below 18 years and fixation of the maximum height (20 feet). We will hear other issues in detail later."
Ironically, the Supreme Court in 2014 had allowed children above 12 years to take part in the Dahi Handi festival by staying the HC order. But with the petition later being disposed off, there was no clarity on the ceiling on height of pyramid. It was in this scenario, the Maharashtra Government filed an application for clarification before the apex court.
Justifying the participation of children, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta for the state argued that there is a belief that the young "Govindas" between the age of 12 to 15 years who take part in Dahi Handi celebrations appropriately symbolise the young lord Krishna. On risk, he submitted that every sport has a risk factor but care is taken to protect them.