Woman activist Trupti Desai detained for entering Maharashtra temple

Activist Trupti Desai was detained by police on Friday after she entered the Trimbakeshwar temple, which does not allow women devotees to offer prayers inside, in Nashik.

“We offered prayers to Lord Shiva at Trimbakeshwar temple and prayed that women be allowed in the temple’s sanctum. We are inside the temple that is itself a very big thing,” said Desai.

Local women too protested as Desai entered the Trimbakeshwar temple.

Desai and her supporters had vowed to break the age-old rule of not allowing women inside the inner sanctum of the temple.

The temple trust, however, says the ban on the entry of women is based on tradition and claimed that no objection has ever been raised on the issue.