Amid reports of blatant violation of Supreme Court guidelines with regards to Dahi Handi celebrations on Thursday comes news of three Govindas, including a 13-year-old boy from Dombivali, sustaining major injuries while participating in the festival. All the three Govindas — identified as Ayush Nangre (13), Sudarshan Masulkar (28) and Shakti Garat (32) — are currently undergoing treatments at the civic KEM Hospital. Police said it would register a case against the organisers of the event in which Ayush participated.
Lying in his hospital bed and writhing in pain, a barely audible Ayush said, “I am in unbearable pain. I was taking part in the Dahi Handi event when I slipped and fell down. I don’t remember what exactly made us collapse.”
Blaming the Dahi Handi organisers and the police for failing to stop his participation despite the Supreme Court’s ban on minors’ participation in the event, Ayush’s family said, “Ayush sustained head injuries and multiple fractures in both arms in the accidents. He ventured out to take part in the event when his parents were not around.”
DCP Ashok Dudhe told The Asian Age, “Regarding the incident involving the minor Govinda, police will register a FIR against the group in which he was present.”
Ayush was playing in his building compound before going to participate in a local Dahi Handi. He fell down while the human pyramid was being formed and fractured his arms. Orthopaedic doctors treating Ayush said that they had to perform a nearly four-hour long surgery on his right hand and insert rods to fix the fracture.
Ayush’s mother, Nanda, said, “We are still in shock. I urge all kids not to participate in such life-threatening celebrations that end in pain for them.”
Ayush’s father said, “My son was playing downstairs and we were unaware of him going to the Dahi Handi event on Thursday. It was the locals who informed us about his accident, after which we rushed him to a nearby private hospital. Given that the hospital charged us an astronomical fee for the medical tests, we shifted Ayush to KEM, where he got operated. I had to shelve out around Rs 23,000 on his treatment and medicines.”
Mr Masulkar, a resident of Parel who got injured at a Dahi Handi event organised by Bal Gopal Krida Mandal, said, “I was on the second tier of the pyramid when it collapsed. I fractured my right arm and sustained injures and cuts all over. However, what I rue the most is that my mandal neither visited me once nor enquired about me.”
Mr Garat, resident of Worli, said, “I was taking part in the Dahi Handi event organised by Sidheshwar Vikas Mandal, Worli, when I along with other participants slipped and came tumbling down. No one came to give us a helping hand. Both my legs got fractured in the incident.”
According to the injured Govindas, political personalities such as state education minister Vinod Tawade and BJP MLA Ashish Shelar visited them, but did not compensate them financially.
Dr Avinash Supe, dean of KEM Hospital and director of major civic hospitals, said, “We are providing treatment to all the Govindas, especially the minor kid. We will conduct a CT scan and MRI on him to rule out the any possibility of internal damage.”
On the financial expenses borne by the families of those injured, Dr Supe said, “We do whatever is possible from our end to treat them and won’t be charging them.”
This year, around 126 people were injured in the Dahi Handi celebrations across the city. Of this, 34 were kept under observation.
