The Bombay High Court Wednesday asked Maharashtra government to ensure that women are not denied entry to any temple.
Hearing a PIL challenging the prohibition on women’s entry to the shrine area at Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district, the division bench of Chief Justice D H Waghela and Justice M S Sonak said:
“You have to ensure their access. Provisions in law already allow this. Nothing prevents women from entering. Police and collector will have to act against those preventing their entry.” It added that if men were granted entry to a place of worship, women should enjoy access too.
Women are not allowed to climb the platform of Shani Shingnapur temple on which the rock idol of Shani is installed. Senior advocate Neelima Vartak and activist Vidya Bal have filed a PIL in the high court, arguing that such prohibition is arbitrary, illegal and in violation of fundamental rights of citizens. They have sought implementation of the Maharashtra Hindu Places of Public Worship (entry Authorisation) Act, 1956.
The Act says, “no Hindu of whatsoever section or class shall in any manner be prevented, obstructed or discouraged from entering such place of public worship or from worshipping or offering prayers, or performing a religious service…”. As per the Act, prohibiting any person from entering a temple would attract six months in jail.
Referring to the Act, the court said: “It is your own law, you are obliged to uphold it.”
As per a 400-year-old tradition, women were not allowed to enter the Shani temple. After mass awareness campaigns, their entry was allowed in 2011, but they were prohibited from climbing the shrine platform. On January 26, women activists who resolved to climb the platform and offer prayers were detained at Supa village, about 70 km from the temple, and later released.
