Muslim group backs Hindu women over Shani temple row
26, Jan 2016
New Delhi, Jan 26, 2016 (IANS)
A Muslim women’s group on Tuesday came out in support of women’s entry into the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra,charging “male-dominated bodies” which run shrines with bias.
The Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan said it supports demands by Hindu women to be allowed to enter the chabutra or sanctum sanctorum at the well known temple in Ahmednagar.
“We salute the women activists for their democratic protest and assertion of their right to worship in the face of all odds placed by the patriarchal male temple administration,” it said in a statement.
“We condemn the discriminative arrangement at the temple and urge the temple trustees to correct their stand in line with the principles of gender justice enshrined in the constitution.”
Andolan co-founders Zakia Soman and Noorjehan Safia Niaz said they were shocked at the imposition of Section 144 by the district administration to bar the women from proceeding peacefully to the temple.
