Shani Singhnapur temple thrown open to women

Women have for the first time been allowed into the sanctum sanctorum of the Shani Singhnapur temple in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra on Friday after a long crusade by women activists demanding engtry into the temple. There have been clashes when the local women tried to prevent women activists from entering the temple premises, armed as they were with the Bombay High Court judement allowing for their entry. The temple trust today allowed the women's entry after preventing them for some 60 years. At certain times, the temple is out of bounds for the men also. At such times, women are also likely to be barred from the temple, because women's contention has been that if men are allowed they should also be allowed into the temple. The temple trust decided to allow women's entry into the temple platform, which is the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, according to trustee Sayaram Bankar. Led by Trupti Deai, women activists welcomed the decision, which followed the Bombay High Court order allowing women into the temple last week. The court had ruled that it was women's Fundamental Right to worship at temples. The Shani (Saturn) temples are rare in India, where temples for the God could be counted on fingers.