However, the shrine trust said that the entry curbs have been in place since many years now, and that the women were out only to get cheap publicity.

“We had visited the shrine in August and were restricted from entering the sanctum sanctorum, where the saint’s grave is,” said Noorjehan Safia Niaz, founding member of BMMA. Anguished at the curbs, BMMA members surveyed 20 shrines of the city and found that only seven of these didn’t allow women near the grave. “What worries us is that eventually the curbs will be put in place at all dargahs,” Niaz added.