After Shani Shingnapur, women allowed to enter and pray inside inner sanctum of Trimbakeshwar temple

Nashik: In yet another step towards ending gender disparity, the Trimbakeshwar temple trust on Thursday allowed women to enter and pray inside inner sanctum of the famous Lord Shiva temple here.

''Trimbakeshwar temple will now allow both men and women to enter and pray inside inner sanctum, '' DS Kushwah, Nasik Collector, told reporters.

Dedicated to Lord Shiva, the Trimbakeshwar temple is one of the 12 ‘Jyotirlingas’ situated in the country.

As per reports, a group of three women activists of the 'Swarajya Sanghatan' led by Vanita Gutte, was allowed to enter the temple amidst tight security.

'Bhumata Brigade' president Trupti Desai, who started the campaign for women’s entry to all places of worship in January, welcomed the development and announced she will visit the temple on Friday.

The development is significant as it comes 13 days after women were permitted entry to the Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district on April 8.

Refusing to bend before the religious bigotry, Bhumata Brigade activists had warned that they will attempt to enter the inner sanctum of Trimbakeshwar Temple in Nashik today.

Triputi, who had earlier tried to enter the sanctum, was detained at a place called Nandur Shingote near Pune-Nashik border in Maharashtra.

The Trimbakeshwar Devasthan Trust in Maharashtra had maintained that the women devotees can be allowed into the famous Lord Shiva temple's sanctum sanctorum for an hour everyday, but with a rider that they must wear wet cotton or silk clothes while offering prayers in the core area.

“There is no discrimination between men and women, we allow entry inside inner sanctum for 1 hour, from 6 am to 7 am. We allow entry of women only if they wear wet cotton or silk clothes,” Temple trustee Lalita Shinde had said earlier.

Members of Bhumata Brigade and women devotees, who had refused to follow the temple trust' dictates, were stopped from entering the temple, which led to a scuffle.

An FIR was also lodged in this regard later by the Bhumata Brigade activists.

(With ANI inputs)