Nashik: A fresh bid by women activists to proceed towards Trimbakeshwar temple near here was foiled by police who detained them today even as a defiant Trupti Desai, spearheading the campaign for breaking gender bias at places of worship, threatened to intensify the stir.

Desai, chief of the Bhumata Brigade, has been leading the protests seeking entry of women to the sanctum sanctorum of the famous Lord Shiva shrine against the ban on female devotees.