Trupti Desai, President of the Bhumata Rangarani Brigade, the women’s outfit heading the campaign against a centuries-old ban on female devotees entering the sacred platform at Shani Shingnapur temple, has been detained in Ahmedabad on Monday. She was on her way to the temple.
On 12 February, she received a letter threatening her with dire consequences, like those faced by Narendra Dabholkar.
The agitation began on 27 January when 350 women activists were stopped by the police on their way to the temple, in an attempt to break a 400-year-old tradition. Protests intensified and women refused to leave the area until they were allowed to enter the temple.
Desai had urged Chief Minister Fadnavis to step in and prevent the suppression of women’s voices and encourage their empowerment. She met Devendra Fadnavis in Pune and presented a memorandum of demands, seeking his support to end gender bias and solicit unrestricted entry for women to the temple and all other sacred places in the state.
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