Some stories never change. On Wednesday night, Trupti Desai of the Maharashtra-based NGO Bhumata Ranragini Brigade had to one again fight her way into the inner sanctum of a Mahalakshmi temple in Kolhapur (video above).
Desai was being stopped because, apparently, women can only enter that particular space dressed in a sari, while she was in a salwar kameez.
Desai had reportedly been advised by the police to wear a sari to enter the girbh griha. And despite the police presence, priests and local devotees made a significant attempt to block Desai's entry.
Though she fought her way into the inner sanctum, Desai was roughed up and had to be taken to a hospital.
Speaking to ANI, Desai said, "There were people who came to attack us, even the priest was abusing us. They pulled our hair, tore my clothes, abused us. I think the attackers planned to kill me."
Earlier on Wednesday, Desai and other activists were taken into preventive custody when they tried to approach the temple in a procession, allegedly in violation of prohibitory orders.
Desai recently won a court case against the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra’s Ahmadnagar district to secure access for women to the the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
An India Today report quoted a priest from the Mahalakshmi temple as saying, “I wanted to tell Trupti Desai about SC judgement that the act she is talking of is about entry into the temple... The act does not permit entry in inner sanctum of temple. She interpreted the act wrongly.”
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