Mumbai: One dead, 95 injured in dahi handi celebrations

A 32-year-old man died and 95 others were injured during dahi handi celebrations in Mumbai on Saturday, The Hindu reported.

Dahi handi events, part of the Hindu festival of Janmashtami that marks the birth of deity Krishna, involve groups forming human pyramids to break earthen pots filled with curd suspended from a height.

In Mankhurd, Jagmohan Shivkiran Chaudhari fell while tying a dahi handi rope to a window grille on the first floor of his house. He was taken to Shatabdi Hospital in Govandi, where doctors declared him dead in the afternoon.

Of the 95 persons injured in the celebrations in Mumbai, 19 are still admitted to hospital, including two in critical condition, The Hindu quoted the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s data as saying. Seventy-six others have been discharged.

In Thane, 22 persons – including minors – were injured during the festivities, the Hindustan Times quoted Yasin Tadvi, chief of the Disaster Management Cell of the Thane Municipal Corporation as saying.

Some of the injured were children aged between five and ten, the official said.

Tadvi added that the organisers had been issued clear instructions against allowing children below 14 to participate. “Despite repeated instructions, children below 14 years were found forming pyramids,” India Today quoted Tadvi as saying.

Separately, Rohan Mohan Valvi (14), a member of the Gaondevi Govinda Pathak in Andheri, collapsed while seated...

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