Mumbai: A group of women from Bhumata Ranragini Brigade, an organisation for women, was barred from entering the Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra on Tuesday. The women were trying to enter the temple and end the tradition of not allowing women to enter the inner sanctum of the shrine.

The police stopped 350 women activists in a village 70 km from the shrine as they tried to break a 400-year-old tradition not allowing women from entering its sacred sanctum.

The moment the buses of activists under the banner of Bhumata Brigade reached Supa village, the protestors led by its President Trupti Desai were banned from moving forward by scores of police personnel, who formed a ring to stop their march towards the famous temple.

In a tense confrontation, the activists protested against the police action and raised slogans and lay down on the road, shouting "it is a black day for women on the Republic Day."

Desai later also alleged that some women had, in fact, entered the temple. Eventually, the protest got intense as the women refused to leave the area until they are allowed inside the temple. An angry Desai said she will do satyagraha and go on a hunger strike to condemn this ridiculous practice. She said, "I will not even drink water."

Bhumata Ranragini Brigade had on Monday threatened to barge into the famous Shani Shingnapur Temple in Ahmednagar - if need be, from the sky way even via a helicopter.