30 July,2009 03:26 PM IST | | PTI
The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a PIL seeking regulation of children participating in 'dahi handi' festivities.
The court said that formation of human pyramid which is a feature of 'dahi handi' in Maharashtra is "a regular sport and minors cannot be prohibited from participating in them."
However, the court said that the government may consider petitioners suggestion for making 'dahi-handi' safer and may frame guidelines.
A city-based NGO, Support India Foundation, had filed a PIL in Bombay High Court seeking a ban on participation of minors in 'dahi handis', a popular way of celebrating Janmashtami in Maharashtra.
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The Foundation used RTI and found that children are getting injured while participating in the traditional 'dahi handi' celebrations where they climb on a human pyramid, which is some time as tall as a five-storeyed building, Geeta Singh, Director of the Foundation had said.
During the last five years, nearly 100 children, injured in 'dahi handi' celebrations, were admitted in various city hospitals, Singh said.
