Terming the Bombay High Court's order banning participation of those below 18 years of age in the human pyramids during Dahi Handi celebrations as "unjust", an umbrella body of Govinda groups today said it would continue the "age-old tradition" regardless of the directive
A day after the Bombay High Court’s judgment that the 'Dahi Handi' human pyramid should not exceed 4 levels, the Dahikala Utsav Samanvaya Samiti (DUSS) held a press conference on Wednesday termed the judgement "unjust" on the mandals.
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In spite of HC order, DSS has declared that they plan to celebrate the festival with the same enthusiasm and tradition even if they cross the guidelines set by court. On Monday, HC had declared that the human pyramid should not exceed four levels as well as the participants should be above 18 years.
"We are requesting the state government to step in and pass a government resolution and allow us to continue doing what we have been doing. If the state government does not do something, it will be held responsible for any law and order problems should they arise," Bala Padelkar, president of Dahikala Utsav Samanvaya Samiti (DUSS), said.
Padelkar said, "The HC decision is completely unjust to the participants who want to enjoy the festival in a traditional manner. We don’t want to disrespect the order, but taking into consideration the interest of 10 lakh participants, if the organisers will tie the 'handi' at a great height then we will not adhere to the guidelines. We will go up to any height even if handi is tied beyond 4 level human pyramids."
Yeshwant Jadhav, advisor of DSS, said, "If the HC has banned students below 18 years than the festival loses its real value. The mandals start giving training to their participants two months ago and giving such an order four days before the festival will make the pyramid structure weak."
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