Widow-burning in the name of sati is an expression of cruelty against women in a patriarchal social structure in India which is fueled by wrong notions, superstition, and greed of the so-called Hindu Community. ---Writes Rabi Roy.
On August 6,
2002, nine days before the 55th Independence Day observance, India witnessed
the shocking incident of sati once again. This happened in the village of
Patna-Tamoli in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh, the state which accounts for
one of the highest numbers of crimes perpetrated against women of the country. According
to media reports, one 65-year-old Kuttu Bai, wife of Mullu Prasad Nai (70)
belonging to backward barber community, committed sati on the funeral pyre of her husband who had been ill for quite
some
time and died that morning. The funeral was watched, as estimated by the
police administration, by a crowd of over 4000 people who assembled from the
village and surrounding areas. Among them were Kuttu's two adult sons–Ashok and
Rajkumar–who had stood as silent spectators while the village erupted in
sinister celebration.
The
custom of sati, associated with a
'pious' women's duty to be loyal to her husband which originated centuries ago in
India, was outlawed by the British Governor General Lord William Bentinck in
1829 following demands by reformers including legendary Raja Rammohan Roy who
had launched a public crusade against sati
beginning in 1818. On June 18, 1823, a bill was moved in British Parliament
by a member, Mr. Pim. Everyone was shocked to hear of the terrible incident
where a 15-year-old girl was thrown onto the funeral pyre again and again, as
she tried to run away. When Lord Bentinck came to India, he had taken a vow to
put an end to this cruel tradition. On December 4, 1829 he banned this custom,
proclaiming: The practice of suttee, or
of burning alive the widows of Hindoos, is revolting the feelings of human
nature…. and the Governor General in
Council is deeply impressed with the conviction that the abuse in question
cannot be effectively put an end to without abolishing the practice altogether.
History says that the famous poet Banabhatta of
the 7th century had raised his voice forcefully against this custom.
In the 16th century, the Mughal Emperors had taken measures to check
this infamous practice. Humayun wanted to
prohibit sati for
widows who had passed the child bearing age. But he did not take any step
towards it. Akbar appointed inspectors to see that no force was used to compel
widows to become sati.
Emperor Jahangir, the
successor of Akbar, ordered that no woman would be allowed to commit sati in Agra without his consent. In
Goa, it was outlawed by the Portuguese Governor Albukarc, by 1510. It is heard
that Islander, a Muslim ruler of Kashmir, announced this custom illegal in his
kingdom (exact time not determined).
The age-old practice of sati was regarded as sacred by Hindus in
ancient India and as an act of wifely devotion. But when the most horrific practice of the sati ritual was initiated in India? Where did it most likely
originate from? In which regions was it practised more than others? Attempts
have been made to find the answers.
Grhyusutras,
composed during 600-300 BCE, describe a number of rituals, but sati is not mentioned in them.
Even Gautama Buddha, who condemned even animal sacrifice, does not say anything
about sati which is
quite curious and can only be explained if the sati custom was non-existent during his times. Even
Yajnavalkya doesn’t mention sati.
But the Indian
epic Mahabharata bears evidence of the existence of this custom in ancient
India. Madri, wife of King Pandu, committed sati.
The description of en masse participation in committing sati is referred to in Srimat Bhagbad, a famous Hindu scripture.
After total destruction of menfolk of Jadav family, hundreds and thousands of
widows, among whom 16000 'belonged' to Krishna alone, burnt themselves on
funeral pyres, as Arjun, the superhero of the Kurukshetra war, watched on. The
reference of this ritual is also found in Atharva Veda (8.3.1 & 8.3.3)
which was composed before Christ.
Although
we have late 4th century BCE evidence from Greek historians, sati did not grow popular
before 400 AD. A very early attested case of sati is of the wife of Goparaja in 510 AD. Literary
evidence from the works of Bhasa, Kalidasa, Bana, Sudraka and Kalhana shows
that sati custom was
getting gradually popular in the royal families of northern India during the
period of 200 AD to 1000 AD. It is however peculiar that no records of this
period refer to actual cases of the practice.
Only
few documents refer to sati
even in Rajputana where it became a prevalent custom later on. The earliest
record is of Mother of the Chahamana king Chandamahasena becoming sati in 842 AD. The next available case is of Sampalladevi of Ghatiyala
in 890 AD. No other recorded case of sati is found in Rajputana till 1000 AD.
Kashmir
is of course an exception as Kalhan mentions in his Rajtarangini
about the practice in detail. Only after 1300 AD, sati became an observed custom.
Bhandarkara
lists 20 cases of sati
in Rajputana between 1200 AD and 1600 AD, most of them being from royal
families.
However,
and sadly, it gradually became a firmly-established and ubiquitous practice. At
the death of almost every Rajput king, those among his widows who were not with
child or who were not required to act as regent, used to ascend to the funeral
pyre. Colonel James Todd, in his Antiquities and Annals of Rajputana mentions
that when Raja Ajit Singh of Marwar died in 1724, 64 women became sati. When Raja Budh Singh of
Bundi died, 84 women became sati.
In the 10th
Century, reference to this custom of sati
is found in the writings of traveler Allberuni. Around 1293, while travelling
in South India, the Venetian Marco Polo experienced this custom, too. In the 15th
Century, it is learnt from an Italian traveler Nicolo Conti that king Devroy of
Vijaynagar Kingdom had 12000 wives, among whom 2000 or 3000 were married on
condition that they would follow the king in a funeral after his death.
The
3rd Sikh Guru Amardas condemned sati
custom and prohibited it among Sikhs. But, this infamous practice soon extended to the Sikh community in Punjab amongst
the aristocracy as well. After
the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who was considered was popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab, in 1839, 11 women (4 queens and 7
slave girls) were burnt alive with him on the pyre. A contemporary newspaper,
Punjabee Akhbar recorded the event thus: “Having arrived at the funeral pyre
made of sandalwood, the corpse was laid on it. Rani Khoondan sat down by its
side and placed the head of the deceased on her lap while the other three ranis with seven slave girls seated
themselves with satisfaction. At 10o'clock, nearly the time fixed by the
Brahmins, Kanwar Khurruukh Singh set fire to the pyre and the ruler of Punjab
with four ranis and seven slave girls were reduced to ashes. A small cloud
appeared in the sky over and, having shed a few drops, cleared away’’. As per Wikipedia: In the 1830s, Ranjit Singh
suffered from numerous health complications as well as a stroke, which some
historical records attribute to alcoholism and a failing liver. He died in
his sleep on 27 June 1839. Four of his Hindu wives, and seven Hindu
concubines with royal titles committed sati by voluntarily placing themselves
onto his funeral pyre as an act of devotion. There are more examples: 3 women became sati with death of Maharaja Khadag Singh, 5 with Basant
Singh, 11 with Kishori Singh and 24 with Maharaj Hira Singh.
As
Marathas claimed Rajput descent, they couldn’t remain impervious to it. But, sati was an exception rather
than rule with the Marathas. Only one of the wives of Shivaji became sati. Same was the case with
Rajaram. Among the Peshwas, only the widow of Madhavrao I, Ramabai, became a sati.
What
was the percentage of widows who became sati, when it started getting fervently recommended by
later Puranas? It is difficult to answer for the period of 1300-1800 as there
is no statistics for it. There is no doubt though that it was high in the
warrior families of Rajputana, where the percentage may have been as high as
10%. As far as the general population is concerned, perhaps one widow in 1000
became a sati when
the custom was in its greatest vogue. But we are taking an educated guess here.
Edward
Thomson, in his book Suttee, mentions statistics of sati for early 19th century.
Poona: 12
per year; Tanjore: 18 per year; Central India: 3-4
per year
Even
if we suppose that the actual number was twice the official figures, it is
quite clear that only an infinitesimal number of widows in the general
population were becoming sati
in Deccan and Central India.
Once it was a
rampant practice in Bengal province of India. An estimated 8,134 women
committed sati between 1815 and 1828.
Padre sebastien Manrique, who came from Portugal for religious purposes and
visited Bengal sometime in the first half of the 17th Century,
witnessed this custom among Bengali Hindus.
In
Bengal, sati was far
more prevalent. A look at the number of satis during the years 1815-28 AD
Calcutta Division: 5099; Dacca Division: 610; Murshidabad
Division: 260; Patna Division: 709; Bareilly
Division: 193; Benares Division: 1165
The
above information shows that the percentage of satis in Bengal was much larger than even in Benares which
was the greatest seat of orthodoxy. The annual average of satis in Calcutta division was
about 370. This division was at that time having doubled the population of the
Bombay presidency and its statistics too were compiled much more accurately. It
would therefore appear that satis
were twice as common in Bengal as they were in Bombay.
Most
of the satis in
Bengal and UP were Brahmins. It is clear that the lifting of the canonical ban
on the Brahmin widows to become satis
had greatest effect in Gangetic plain. Available statistics clearly show that
outside ruling and priestly families, the custom did not make a wide appeal to
Hindu community.
So,
the question is why a practice which had almost become extinct got a fillip?
When Islamic invaders started taking sex slaves, it created a unique problem to
Hindus. When they used to come to know that defeat is inevitable, Rajputs used
to wear kesariya safa and march to the war for the final showdown. Their wives
used to burn themselves on pyre so that thought of their becoming sex slaves
will not weaken the males’ resolve to face the invaders. The women who used to
commit jauhar were given status of
deity and bards used to compose legends about their valour and composure in the
face of certain death. This made jauhar
glorified and gave a fillip to sati,
too. And soon the number of satis
showed a steady upward increase.
But
it is certainly clear today that the “tradition” of sati was used cleverly in later
years by the widow’s late husband’s household for purely material objectives.
Hindu men turned the logic round on its head to proclaim proudly that this
proved that Hindu women were true goddesses.
Was
any force exercised to compel unwilling widows to become sati? A straight reply is
impossible to give. Yes, in some cases, unwilling widows were forced to burn
themselves. Kalhana has given such example of Queen Garga and Didda in
Rajtarangini. Niccolao Mannuci talks about one such case in his book, History
of Moghul Dynasty in India where he himself saved one such unwilling
widow. Francois Bernier writes in Travels in the Moghul Empire about
a child widow of 12 being burnt against her will. (Page 363). But in majority
of cases, widows were willing participants of sati.
Epigraphia
Carnatica mentions Debakke, a
widow in 11th century, who did not listen to her parents’ plea to not become a sati. Muktabai, the daughter of
the great queen Ahilyabai, became a sati
in 1792 despite repeated pleas and requests from her Mother to not to take such
a step. Jean Baptiste Tavernier writes about a widow of 22 yr old who went to
the governor of Patna to obtain permission for sati and how she held her hand in the flame of a torch
till it was burnt completely to convince the officer that she was not afraid of
fire. Ibn Batuta writes in his Rihla about how he
fainted on seeing the unbelievable courage of a widow who smilingly embraced
the devouring flames of the funeral fire. (Page 191). Similar accounts have
been mentioned by Bernier, Pietro della Valle, Mustaqi and many others.
The
great Bengali writer Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay writes in his seminal 1917
essay Narir Mulya (The Value of a Woman): ‘This is the country where women go and sit on the funeral pyre with
smiles on their faces, rest their husbands’ lotus-like feet on their lap, and
burn to ashes with a cheerful face!’ If so, asks Sarat Chandra, ‘why was
the widow drugged heavily right after the husband’s death?… When she was put on
the pyre, she was strapped down in a cage made of raw bamboo, lest the sati decides to escape the pain
of getting burned alive! Thick smoke used to be created through the burning of
ghee and coir, so no one could see her terrible torture and feel fear!
Countless drums would be beaten and conches are blown loudly so no one heard her
cries, her screams, her pleas for mercy!’
One traditional
form of wifely devotion is jahar brata which is mentioned earlier. Women used to burn themselves
willingly after their menfolk were defeated in battles to avoid being taken by
the victors. Such suicidal acts were honored as jahar brata. One of the
first recorded occurrences of such violence was in 1191, at Thaneswar, Northern
India, after Prithwi Raj Cohan was defeated by the Muslim invader Muhammad
Ghori in the war of Tarain. Hundreds and thousands of Hindu wives burnt
themselves alive. In 1295, when Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, fell to another Muslim
Sultan Alauddin Khilji, 24,000 Hindu women and children left into the flames.
More than 200 years later, 13000 women followed Chittor rani (queen) to be part of such a dreaded ritual.
On an average 25,000 widows committed sati per year
throughout the country before the law preventing this custom was enacted by
Bentinck.
After
independence, the most shocking incident of sati
happened in the village of Deorala, Rajasthan, on September 4, 1987, which
sparked national and international outrage. 18-year-old convent educated Roop
Kanwar, the widow of Mal Singh belonging to upper- caste Rajput, was forced to burn
on the pyre with her husband’s body as per the outlawed Hindu rite. She had
been married to only eight months. Following the Roop Kanwar case, India enacted
federal legislation providing the death penalty for anyone found abetting sati. A total of 39 persons including
Roop’s father-in-law, Sumer Singh, who forced her, and brother-in-law,
Pushpendra Singh, who set alight the pyre, were arrested by the police for
their involvement in the incident. But all the accused were acquitted by a
trial court in 1966, nine years after the event, for want of substantial
evidence. According to a 1996 media report, there had not been a single
conviction in any of the nine sati cases
which had taken place since 1994 in Neem Ka Thana subdivision alone. Village
Deorala is under this subdivision. So the of Roop Kanwar was not unique in independent
India. According to researchers Kumkum Sangaria and Sudesh Vidya (can’t
remember the source right now), Roop Kanwar’s is the 38th sati incident after independence. Betola of Jabalpur district in
Madhya Pradesh had a narrow escape in 1993.
Fortunately enough for the woman, her four sons arrived in the village
before for the information was made by the villagers. In 1979, a picture of
burning sati appeared in the Illustrated
Weekly of India. The woman who committed sati
was Soma Kanwar (62) of Nagpur district, Rajasthan. The National Crime Bureau,
New Delhi, recorded 5 cases of sati
in 1960 and 10 in 1996 alone. On November 11, 1999, another case of sati was
recorded. At Sattanpurwa village, in Mahaba district of Uttar Pradesh, a dalit woman, Charan Shah (53), allegedly
committed sati, which created huge
furore. Nothing has changed thereafter and Patna-Tamoli evidence of this.
With
no real importance of India’s map, Patna-Tamoli, which has been described in
the Madhya Pradesh human development report as one of the most backward
districts. Aged Kuttu Bai lived below the poverty line and apparently did not
have a cordial relation with her husband for the past few years and they lived separately.
She lived with her younger son while her husband Mullu stayed with the elder
one. According to local sarpanch (a decision-maker, elected by the village-level
constitutional body of local self-government) Bimala Chaurasia, Mullu, who was from the
neighboring Umaria district had been unwell for the past three years, used to
live with his in-laws in Patna-Tamoli as they had land. Kuttu could not stand
her husband chosen to live off her family, and they fought bitterly. On the
fateful day at about 5 a.m., Mullu expired and at around 9.30 am. all
arrangements for cremation had been made. Initially, only ten people of Mullu’s
Nai (barber) community were involved
in the funeral procession, they took his body to the cremation ground on the
outskirts of the village across the main thoroughfare at about 8 am. As the
news spread that Kuttu Bai had also reached the cremation site and was bent on
committing sati, villagers bearing coconuts,
incense sticks, flowers, and curd made their way there to propitiate the satimai. Soon a couple of thousand
people had gathered, a good number of them came from nearby villages. It is
still unclear whether Kuttu Bai decided to throw herself on her husband’s pyre
of her own accord or was forced, but it is evident that no one dared stop
her for fear of being cursed by satimata.
Villagers instead chanted ‘satimata ki
jay’ to appease her.
Kuttu Bai sat on
her husband’s funeral pyre over an hour. Having received a phone call about the
impending act around at 8.45 am, an officer-in-charge Harcharansingh Ghosh and
a constable from the Saleha police station arrived at the scene by 10 am. The
pyre was already ablaze. Reports confirm that they tried best to save Kuttu
Bai, but the crowd, fuelled by religious fervor, overpowered them and drove
them away. They were also badly injured in the melee. People began pouring in
on foot, jeep, tractor, and motorcycle from the neighboring Panaa village to worship
at the site till 2.30 pm when the district administration imposed a ban on
their entry.
The village was
soon flooded with policemen. According to thanedar
(police officer) Ghosh, 15 persons, including Kuttu’s sons, were arrested and
cases under sections 307(attempt to murder), 147 (rioting), 353 (assault or
criminal force to deter a public servant from his duty) of the IPC have been
registered. The state government had immediately ordered a magisterial inquiry
into the incident.
A delegation from the
National Commission for Women (NCW) visited the village to find out what really
happened. Describing the incident as a ‘‘miscarriage of justice’’, NCW
chairperson Poornima Advani, who headed the fact-finding mission, said ‘no
serious effort was made by the local administration to prevent this incident
even after knowing that such an incident is going to take place’’. She also
demanded that the entire administration deserved punished for being slack.
Refuting reports that the incident was a spur-of-the-moment decision taken by
Kuttu Bai, she said ‘‘everyone knew about the incident in advance. The
villagers knew two to three hours before that she was planning sati’’.
Meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh government
decided to punish residents of Patna-Tamoli village. The government decided not
to provide any financial assistance to Patna-Tamoli gram panchayat (local self-government) for two years. It also
decided to urge the Centre to not extend any assistance to the village during this
period. Apart from that, the state government decided to launch a public
awareness campaign against the custom of sati
in sensitive areas.
The custom of sati is the crude manifestation of the patriarchal social system.
‘‘The contention behind the cruel tradition is after his death, a man even in
the other world needs all the things enjoyment.
These things included his wife, servants, elephants,
horses, his jewelry, and other things. In ancient Greece and among
the Egyptians, Scythians, and many others, after the death of the king, along
with his dead body all the queens, servants , and so on were buried or were burnt
alive. The custom of sati is the remnant of that,’’ writes Champa Limaye, author of ‘Women: Power
And Progress’. But the core reason behind the custom of sati is the property rights of a widow. A
logical explanation was given by Bengal’s legendary figure and social reformer
Ramnohan Roy. He ascribed this custom in Bengal to the dayabhaga system of inheritance which gave the widow exclusive
right over her husband’s property. And therefore the custom of sati
was so prevalent in Bengal. But on the contrary, this custom was rare Uttar
Pradesh because of the prevailing mitakshra
law circumscribed the inheritance rights of the widow and specified that
her husband’s property be distributed among all the successors, including the
widow. So the in-laws had little to gain
from a widow’s death.
In Kuttu Bai’s
case, there may be no role of property inheritance. But investigations may
reveal the hand of prospectors in Kuttu Bai’s ‘voluntary’ act of sati. Speaking gems stored underground
may be the answer. In the Kaimur Range, the ground of this area stores the
country’s largest million carats. One report says that Kuttu Bai owned a land
measuring six acres, and it is suspected that one Jaynarayan Pathak known for
his vested interest encouraged her act of sati
to grab her land.
The episode of Kutto Bai’s immolation has raised a couple of
questions. The custom of sati is
traditionally an upper-caste custom, tied in with the concept of ‘honor’. But
the woman concerned here is from the lower caste, just as in 1999 Utter
Pradesh case (mentioned above). It is quite tragic that this murderous and
regressive custom is being adopted by poor and backward community women, or
they are made to adopt it as a way to escape from an unbearable life after the
husband’s death. Is it simply religious allegiance to a Hindu rite which was
initiated upper caste brahmins, or is it the result of a continuous campaign
glorifying the medieval barbarism in the name of religion? It is noteworthy
that no condemnation was reported in the Kutto Bai’s case from Hindu
fundamentalists like VHP or RSS.
Secondly, practicing sati is illegal.
Banning the practice and its glorification, the Commission of Sati (Prevention)
Act, 1987 was enacted in Parliament immediately after the Roop Kanwar incident.
Still, it is happening here and there, now and then. Those who violet the Act are
liable to be punished. Should not the protectors of law be charged with the
failure to implement the law? The Act even empowered State Governments and the
District Magistrates to demolish a temple ‘‘if they are satisfied that any form
of worship or performance of ceremony is carried on there with a view to
perpetuating the honor of, or preserving the memory of any person in respect of
whom sati has been committed’’. But not
even a single instance of demolition has been reported since, though everyday
devotees rush to the sati temples,
situated in different parts of our barbaric act. In 1996, a few orthodox
supporters of the custom of sati even
dared to arrange a nine-day maha yagna
to mark the 400th year of the famous Sri Ram Satiji Temple’s installation
imposed at Jhunjhun in Rajasthan. The District Administration imposed ban only
on the pomp and ultimately it was held outside the temple premises under the
High Court directive. In 2000, Kolkata based Aitihāsika Sati Mandir Banchao Committee, an organization
sponsored by Hindu fundamentalists VHP demanded the anti-sati law be scrapped
and all sati temples to be declared
national monuments. Not a single word was heard in protest from the then Left
camp in power in West Bengal.
Thirdly, political parties like the Congress and the BJP fighting each other on
the issue as they do on the other issues. But what was their local units’ role
when the incident was happening? Did their supporters also rally behind masses
involved madly in superstitious excitement? Moreover, is there any provision in
the agenda of those political parties to fight against religious superstitions that
cripple human as well as social progress?
Fourthly, the role of panchayat is not
above question. What role did the representatives of that locality play to save
the woman? Did they have no responsibility to intervene? Why didn’t any one of
them, who was on the payroll of the government, came forward to stop the
incident? Reports say, having been informed before the incident the local sarpanch took the initiative to contact
police. But when the police came and tried to rescue the woman pulling her off
the burning pyre, not even the sarpanch
came forward to cooperate with them.
Finally, the question arises about the psychology of the spectators. Thousands
of men and women not only watched the incident of sati, they even encouraged the woman to burn herself. Even literate
people believed that as a result of this inhuman sacrifice, the drought-prone the region would receive
a few drops of favor from the rain god. Yes, it rained in
Bundelkhand after the very
sati
incident. But it was simply coincidence; it had no connection with the
sati incident. Then where is the
problem? Is it in the education system itself or the social ideologies in
practice? People’s participation was found not only in Kuttu Bai’s case, but
there are examples where 20-25,000 people participated to watch the horrible
scene of widow burning. When Roop Kanwar was compelled to commit
sati, about 1,000 saffron-turbaned
Rajput volunteers with swords in hand guarded the place of execution, watched
by 4,000 men and women. The act was even supported by her parents when she
heard later on.
NCW OBSERVATIONS: The
National Commission for Women (NCW) had taken suo moto cognizance of the
episode and constituted an inquiry committee immediately led by the then NCW Chairperson Poornima Advani. An inquiry was done by the team comprising of Dr. Poornima Advani, Chairperson, NCW
Chairperson, Ms. Anusuiya Uike, Member, NCW Member, Mrs. Baby Rani Maurya,
Member, NCW Member, Dr. (Mrs.) Padma Seth, ex-Member/Advisor, NCW Expert of NCW which reached the village on
9th August. They not only visited the local people but people’s
representatives as well as administrative levels, too. Their interesting
findings are shown below:
The Commission believes
that Kuttubai had committed Sati. The depositions made before the visiting NCW
team by the villagers, the relatives of the deceased, the village level
functionaries, the Panchayat Sarpanch, the Zila Panchayat Vice-President, the
daughters-in-law, the grandchildren, the police sub-inspector, the chowkidar,
the SDPO, the Collector and government officers reinforce the belief, though
the time of occurrence varied. When the team met the sons of Kuttubai (who have
been arrested and are in Jail, along with 15 others), they clearly told the
visiting the NCW team that their mother had
told them a couple of days before the death of their father that she would
commit Sati on her husband's pyre. Allegedly,
they pleaded with her not to commit self-immolation but she flatly refused to
comply with their request.
The question is not when and where and
at what time she was dressed in bridal finery, or whether she voluntarily sat
on the pyre and refused to come out or not; the crucial issue is how is it that
when villagers, both from within and neighboring areas congregated to pay
obeisance to satimata, the administration was still preparing to visit the spot? The single policeman with
a revolver and a gun could not prevent the Sati occurrence. What is the point
in trying to cover up a systemic failure to rush on time and take the alibi of
9-15 a.m. as the time of the complaint received?
Analyzing the situation on the evidence
recorded from one and all, NCW 's findings are :
- The administration has not
complied with the mandate of the law and has failed in pre-empting and
preventing the woman from committing Sati.
- The administration reached the spot when the woman had been fully consigned to the flames. They could not even disperse the crowd eulogizing 'Sati Mata' until late in the afternoon.
- The administration did not take cognizance of the fact that abetting and glorification of sati were in full swing for three hours before their arrival.
- The. police/administration has arrested 17
illiterate, poor and ignorant persons under sections of the Indian Penal
Code for murder and attempt to murder and not under the Commission of Sati
(prevention) Act, 1987.
- The local political
functionaries who were present in the village, have a stronghold over the
villagers [this was evident from the fact that all the villagers had
congregated in the village to meet the Member of Parliament, the leader of
the village and the Zila Upadhyaksh] and yet failed to prevent the
incident This populous village of 5000 and above is said to be affluent
due to pan business.
- The Village Sarpanch, totally
distanced herself from the responsibility of pre-empting and preventing
the gruesome incident.
- The Zila Upadhyaksh also, who
has the loyalty of the whole village has failed in his duty as an elected functionary. Having heard from no one else other than from the son of the deceased, who had sought his help for saving his mother, the Upadhyaksh did not think that it was his duty to stop Sati on time, instead of waiting for the police to arrive. He played an indecisive role, which does not behoove of the local leader. His failure to counter the incident is beyond doubt.
- Neither the Panchayat nor the Administration can take refuge in peoples' ignorance or archaic beliefs.
- The delay tactics on the part
of the police and administration to avoid the wrath of the
public/villagers is to be condemned and punished with all seriousness
- The District Collector should
have acted quickly to prevent the occurrence; instead, his defensive attitude cannot be condoned. He must be charged for dereliction of duty.
- The elected Representatives and the Administration both at the local and the District levels have to take a stand. Their action has to be proactive and not merely of post-mortem in nature.
- No attempt seems to have been made in the village and around to improve the self-esteem of women,
especially widows, particularly where Satipratha is still being nurtured as per the depositions by the administration and the local people. One can intervene in many ways to make their lives better and prevent them from burning on the funeral pyre of their husbands.
- Neither the police nor the
administration, i.e. the District Collector, cared to collect the negatives of the photographs of Sati- burning/murder published in
Navbharat at Satna. The photograph clearly shows the abettors of the crime, who were present on the spot, paying tributes to satimata. (NCW requested the Police
(SDPO) and the Collector to produce the photographer to meet the NCW Team.
This was not complied with.
On August 12 of
the same year, i.e. six days after the Kuttu Bai’s case another SATI BID IN
RAJASTHAN FOILED by police successfully. Read the report published in THE
STATESMAN 12.08.2002:
Jaipur, Aug. 12 - Prompt action by the district
administration prevented sati of a 22-year-old ST woman at the remote Hudla
village in the district yesterday.
Khayal Devi announced that she would burn herself on
the funeral pyre of her husband who died of prolonged illness in SMS hospital.
The additional district collector, Mr. MM Sharma, said: ‘‘She didn’t weep after
her husband’s death. She started chanting bhajans
and it continued the whole night. The next day she dressed in her wedding sari.
She then went to sit on the pyre.’’
But it was because of the timely action taken by the
village patwari (revenue record
keeper), Mr. Ram Dayal Meena, that the tragedy was averted. When he heard that
the sati was about to be committed,
he rushed to the Mathua police station, eight-kilometer from Hudla, and alerted
the district administration, Mr. Sharma said.
The Meena community panchayat also held a meeting to
announce the sati. But the administration reached the village on time and asked
the community not to support it. Panchayat members were told police would take
action if they did not stop the sati, the ADM said. The Meena panchayat was finally
persuaded to give up the idea and asked the women to change Khaya’s wedding
attire. She fainted when they took her away from the pyre. Impressed by the
timely action taken by the patwari,
the district collector has announced a reward for him.
CONVICTION
On April 5, 2006, a special
court of Sagar, Madhya Pradesh sentenced four persons to life imprisonment
while acquitting 13 in the Patna Tamoli 'sati' incident, which occurred on
August 6, 2002, in Panna district. Special court Judge A K Mishra convicted the
victim 62-year-old Kuttu Bai's two sons Ashok Kumar (45) and Raj Kumar (35)
besides brothers Jai Narayan (34) and Deep Narayan (33) who stopped police
personnel from preventing 'sati'. They have slapped fines of Rs 500 each and in
default, they would serve an extra three months in jail. The judge provided the benefit of the doubt to 13 others. According to prosecution, Kuttu Bai -- of Patna
Tamoli village -- leaped into the pyre of her husband who had a natural death.
The victim's relatives assaulted and prevented police personnel from removing
the woman from the pyre.
After Kuttu Bai’s incident, the condition of the village has changed
radically. According to a newspaper (DainikBhaskar
(Hindi) Jun 05, 2018)
report:
Panna's
village of Tamoli came into the limelight in August 2002, 16 years ago. A
woman has then committed sati in the
village. Kattubai, a 65-year-old woman, was burnt alive with the pyre of
husband Mallu Nai. This was (probably) the last Sati incident in the
country. This incident became a stigma for the village. After this,
the people of Tamoli decided to change this negative image of their
village. The village showed amazing courage in these 16 years. Now
Patna Tamoli is identified as a village that has remarried 31 women in 5 years. These
are women whose husbands died or their husbands left them. The village
takes initiative to remarry women.
In these
16 years, the credit of changing the thinking of the village goes to Ashok
Sharma of the village itself. Ashoka started this women's campaign with
the help of women. The effect is that if someone's husband dies in the
village, then the people of the whole village try to resettle the widow's
house.
- The villagers find the boy, raise funds among themselves, and remarry the
widow in the temple. On 13 May, a woman has been remarried in the
village. 25-year-old Pinky Namdev's husband was killed. The villagers
got together and resettled her.
There
are 10 such groups working in this direction in the village
- Ashok Sharma is a farmer but remains active in social service. He told-
'Due to the backward area, it is difficult to meet and talk to women
here. We approach women with the help of self-help groups formed under
government schemes.
- 'There
are 10 such groups in the village. As soon as a woman is seen, whose
husband has died or the husband has left, the women of the group approach their
family and motivate them to remarry. Then the family necessarily cooperate
in the search of the boy. Only family members get the woman married when consent
is reached.
But
16-year-old Tees is still in the heart of the village
- Tamoli, with a population of about 4 thousand, has not suffered from being
the last Sati Kand village in the country. The day Kattubai was supposed
to be Sati, she had a ride in the village with a horse. Thousands of
people were on the road to provoke Kattubai into her husband's funeral
pyre. Eventually, she became
sati.
- Then CM
Digvijay Singh took collective action on the
village. The village did not receive any government help for 2
years. A case was registered under 17 Prevention of Sati Act. 4
convicts were given life imprisonment. Even today, talk to the villagers
about that day, and then they are cut off.
Kutt Bai’s incident is not unique in this
region. In the oral history that does the round of police officers and
bureaucrats here, there are at least five instances of sati
in Panna district in the
last 150 years or so. Three of these - including Kuttu Bai's - were in
Patna-Tamoli. So far
as the people of this rural hinterland of Bundelkhand are concerned, they have
witnessed a sacred act and Kuttu has been deified. The collective psyche of the
village, and probably the region, still regards sati as a sacred practice. They are proud that there is a sati incident in the village every 50
years. "Around 52 years back, it was in Janu Chaurasia's family. Before
that, it was in Brahmin Batt Padraha household," they still can remember.
Let
me conclude this article congratulating the police officer Mr. Ghosh and the
constable Nathumal for their heroic roles in this incident. They should be
rewarded for trying to save a woman’s life putting their own lives at stake.
This will always remain a unique example of courage for people. Let me also
congratulate the Chief Minister, Mr. Digvijoy Singh, for his prompt response to
the incident and the penal action, which has been mentioned earlier, taken
against the residents of the village. This reminds us of an incident years ago.
On July23, 1842, at Jalanpur in Maharashtra, British officers, activated by the
compassion, saved the life of an unfortunate woman from a similar mishap. They
warned all the residents that they would be hanged if sati was performed. Ultimately their warning proved to be
successful and the woman was saved. This sort of autocratic action is still
necessary for our so-called democratic society. Kuttu Bai is dead, but the fire
of her pyre has been extinguished, but the flames of the sati legend are still shining in millions of superstitious minds,
and the prompt but apparently arbitrary action taken by Mr. Digvijay Singh may
save other several Kuttu Bais.
What happened at
Patna-Tamoli is not a mere incident of sati,
it is an expression of cruelty against women in a patriarchal social structure
which is fuelled by wrong notions, superstition, and greed. We should all be
ashamed of it as Indians.
Such ghastly
crimes against women irrespective of caste or creed are condemned. We have to
decide right now if we should allow it to continue or stand in its way.
Note: This article was first written just after
the Kuttu Bai’s incident had happened and it was published soon in a newsletter.
It is revised in 2020 again. The events that followed were collected from the
media and compiled. The credit of this article
goes to reporters and authors from whose writings I have borrowed information.
A-Sati-painting.-Photo-Parkour
