Rajasthan court acquits eight in 1987 Sati case

Jaipur: Announcing its verdict in the 1987 Sati case, a Special Court of Jaipur Mahanagar II on Wednesday acquitted eight out of 45 accused in the case.

In 2004, the court acquitted 25 accused. Four of these 45 accused are absconding while the remaining accused in the case have died.

Lawyers Amanchain Singh Shekhawat and Sanjit Singh Chauhan said that the court acquitted Mahendra Singh, Shravan Singh, Nihal Singh, Jitendra Singh, Uday Singh, Dashrath Singh, Laxman Singh and Bhanwar Singh.

The court said that the police have made everyone accused under Section 5 of the Sati Nivaran Act.

“This section says that you cannot glorify the practice of Sati. But, to prove the allegation in this section, it is necessary that any incident of Sati has taken place under Section 3,” the court observed.

The court said that, however, the police did not mention any incident of Sati in the file.

“Policemen and witnesses who registered the case also did not identify these accused. In such a situation, all the accused were acquitted giving them the benefit of the doubt,” the court observed.

Roop Kanwar (18) was the youngest daughter of Jaipur's transport businessman Bal Singh Rathore who was married to Mal Singh of Sikar's Diwarala village on 17 January 1987.

On 3 September 1987, Mal Singh (24) died in hospital after complaining of a stomach ache. He was taken to Sikar for treatment, where he died on 4 September. After Mal Singh's death, Roop Kanwar became Sati.

It was alleged that Roop Kanwar was pressurised to commit Sati but many argued that she committed Sati out of her own free will.

On September 4, 1987, 18-year-old Roop Kanwar became Sati by putting herself on her husband's pyre in Diwarala village. This was the last reported case of Sati in the country.

After Roop Kanwar became Sati, Chunri Mahotsav was organised on the thirteenth day of her death in Diwarala village. Lakhs of people participated in it. A year later, on the first death anniversary of Roop Kanwar, a procession was taken out giving her the status of Sati Mata. Following it, a case was registered against 45 people for glorifying Sati.

The Sati practice was banned during the British Raj in December 1829.