Sati (practice)

The practice of Sati (also sometimes unphonetically written suttee) was a Hindu funeral custom in which the widow immolated herself alive on her husband?s funeral pyre.

Recent incidence

Sati still occurs occasionally, mostly in rural areas. About 40 cases have occurred in modern India, the majority in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. The last clearly documented case was that of Roop Kanwar. However there are claims that other later deaths have also been cases of Sati.

Related Topics:
Shekhawati - Rajasthan - Roop Kanwar

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Roop Kanwar, a childless 19-year old widow, commited Sati in 1988, some allege forcibly, dressed in her red wedding dress, in Rajasthan's Deorala village. Several thousand people were said to have been at the event. The event quickly turned into a national case of outrage, pitting a modern Indian ideology against a traditional one. A much-publicised investigation led to the arrest of a large number of people from Deorala, said to have been present in the ceremony, or participants in it. Eventually, 11 people were charged. On January 31, 2004, a special court in Jaipur acquitted all of the 11 accused in the case, observing that the prosecution had failed to prove charges that they glorified Sati.

Related Topics:
1988 - Ideology - January 31 - 2004 - Jaipur

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