Deot Sidh Baba Balak Nath temple opens doors to women

Dinesh Kanwar

Hamirpur, April 15

Women will not be restricted from entering the holy cave of the Deot Sidh Baba Balak Nath temple at Deot Sidh from now on.

The temple trust has directed the security staff and other employees to allow women to go inside the cave.

As per the tradition, women are not allowed to go close to the cave. It is said Baba Balak Nath was a ‘brahamchari’ and women should abstain from going close to his abode. A platform was build in front of the cave at a distance of 30 ft from where women pay obeisance.

Taking a cue from the recent judgment of the Supreme Court permitting women to enter the Shani temple at Shingnapur, the temple trust authorities had conveyed to the employees that no one would be stopped from entering the cave.

Akshay Sood, Badsar SDM-cum-chairperson of the trust, said there was no official restriction imposed on the entrance of women to the scared cave.

He said it was a tradition started by the locals, but it was not official. Over 60 lakh devotees throng the temple every year.