A social activist from Pune has filed a criminal Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Bombay high court seeking directions to the state government and the director general of police, Maharashtra to protect women who enter the Shani temple at Shingnapur in the Ahmednagar district to worship the deity.
Hemant Patil, in his petition, filed through advocate R.N. Kachve, has also requested the court to direct the Shaneshwar Devasthan Trust, which manages the temple at Shingnapur village, to stop obstruction of women who want to enter the sanctum sanctorum to offer prayers to God Shani.
Referring to the high court order passed on April 1 in which a division bench had asked the state government to take steps to ensure compliance of law to prevent discrimination against women on entry to places of worship, the PIL also sought a direction to respondents to state in writing as to why they did not give protection to women devotees who had recently attempted to worship at the Shani Shingnapur temple.
Home department secretary, superintendent of police, Ahmednagar, senior inspector of police, Supa police station, and Shaneshwar Devasthan Trust are the other respondents to the PIL.
According to the petition, the state had assured the high court that it would strictly implement Maharashtra Hindu Place of Worship (Entry Authorisation) Act. However, the age-old practice of prohibiting women from offering prayers at the Shani Shingnapur temple is still continuing.
The petitioner said that he had planned to organise a programme of worship of God Shani at the Shingnapur temple on April 23 along with women devotees.
But, the Shani Devasthan Trust informed that it would be unable to give any protection to the women devotees who participate in this prayer activity. The PIL will come up for hearing in due course.
