Maha: Police detains activist Trupti Desai on way to Shirdi

Women's Right's activist Trupti Desai was detained by police at Ahmednagar in Maharashtra on Thursday while they were going to Shirdi to remove boards put up outside the Saibaba temple asking devotees to dress in a 'civilised' manner.

The activist was asked not to enter Shirdi town in Maharashtra till December 11 after she threatened to remove boards put up by Shri Saibaba Temple shrine officials requesting devotees to wear traditional Indian or "civilised attire".

However, defying the notice, Desai along with 20 other members of her outfit 'Bhumata Brigade' left from Pune on Thursday morning to go to Shirdi to remove the boards at the Saibaba temple there.

'We detained Desai along with 15 to 16 members of the outfit near Supa village on Pune-Ahmednagar highway under section 68 of the Bombay Police Act,' Ahmednagar Superintendent of Police Manoj Patil said.

The Saibaba temple trust recently put up boards outside the temple premises, appealing to devotees to be dressed in a 'civilised' manner or as per 'Indian culture'. The Shirdi Sai Baba Temple Trust Trust, however, clarified that this was not a dress code but merely a request.