12 August,2009 03:38 PM IST | | MiD DAY Correspondent
An advocate has filed a PIL in the Supreme Court saying that this festival should not be celebrated because it will spread the disease.
Dahi Handi is observed a day after Sri Krishna Jayanti mainly in Maharashtra and Goa. This year, it falls on Friday, August 14.
While the SC has refused to grant the petition an early hearing, people themselves are scared and celebrating it in a low key manner. In fact, Shiv Sena's executive president Uddhav Thackeray has asked people to celebrate Janmashtami at home.
Swine flu fear has already gripped Mumbai and has caused schools, colleges and theatres to shut down. The toll across India has crossed 15 and Delhi's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Haroon Yusuf's two children have been infected.
In India, swine flu cases have crossed the 1,000 mark, while internationally, Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, is down with swine flu.
