1,000 women to attempt Shani Shingnapur sanctum entry

Members of Ranragini Bhumata Brigade (RBB) on Monday claimed that about 1,000 women activists would march to Shani Shingnapur Mandir on Republic Day and try to enter the sacred chauthara (sanctum), which is off limits for women.

A week earlier, RBB president Trupti Desai had warned that if they are prevented from entering the mandir, she would step on to the chauthara by a rope from a hovering helicopter. However, the Brigade has been denied permission by the collector of Ahmednagar for the march.

The police has served notices to the Brigade and other Hindu organisations who have been objecting the entry of women to the chauthara. Currently, barricades have been put up at Shani Shingnapur and hundreds of police officials are patrolling the area.

Speaking to The Asian Age from Pune, Pushpak Kewadkar, vice-president of RBB said that they had received overwhelming response from women, when they toured north and western Maharashtra while creating awareness about women’s rights.

“We will begin our journey from Pune’s Vega Centre at 8 am today. We have made travel arrangements for 200 women. About 80 men too are supposed to join us,” she said. “We have already booked a helicopter and if we are not permitted to enter from the open ground, we shall drop ladders from the chopper and climb down,” said Trupti Desai, president of RBB.

The RBB supporters will converge at Rahuri Phata in the Ahmednagar district where they will be joined by 300 more supporters from Kolhapur, 270 from Nashik, 40 from Sinnar, 25 from Rahuri, 55 from Ahmednagar and other places, Ms Kewadkar said.

Ahmednagar district collector Anil Kawade said that they had received the application from the women’s group requesting usage of helicopter. “We have received the application and it has been sent to the office of the Superintendent of Police as they are the ones who will take the decision whether to give the permission for helicopter use,” he said. When contacted, Ahmednagar SP Saurabh Tripathi said the application has been sent to the local police station as the decision on granting permission will be taken on the basis of ground reality and the situation. “Prohibitory orders are already issued on assembly of people in the entire district to make sure that there is no law and order situation in the village. We have deployed extra police bandobast and adequate number of female police personnel are deployed in and around the village,” he said.

Readers may recall that, a woman had mistakenly stepped onto the sanctum for a darshan. After this the management washed the area as they claimed it had become “impure”.

The temple is dedicated to Lord Shani, the personification of planet Saturn, and women devotees are not permitted at the platform. The open temple has no walls or roof. A self-emerged (svayambhu) five-foot-high black stone stands on a platform and is worshipped as Lord Shani.