8 acquitted in 'Sati' case in Rajasthan: What was the Roop Kanwar incident?

Almost 158 years after the British Empire outlawed the practice of Sati in India, the last recorded instance emerged in 1987 in a small Rajasthan village. And 37 years after being accused of glorifying the death of Roop Kanwar, India’s last documented Sati case, a special court in Jaipur acquitted eight individuals on Wednesday (October 9), citing the benefit of the doubt, as reported by The Indian Express.

The eight, along with others, were alleged to have organised an event around the first anniversary of Roop Kanwar’s act of Sati, celebrating her death.

Special Judge Akshi Kansal of the Sati Niwaran court acquitted Mahendra Singh, Shrawan Singh, Nihal Singh, Jitendra Singh, Uday Singh, Dasrath Singh, Laxman Singh, and Bhanwar Singh, all of whom were previously out on bail.

 

“Although we have yet to receive the detailed order, the court delivered a verdict today, acquitting all eight. The prosecution could not prove the case beyond reasonable doubt, and as a result, they were acquitted,” the report quoted Aman Chain Singh Shekhawat, the lawyer representing the accused, as saying.

Out of the 45 individuals originally charged, 25 were acquitted in 2004 due to insufficient evidence, eight were acquitted on Wednesday, four are absconding, and the remaining eight have died, according to Shekhawat.

What was the Roop Kanwar case, the last recorded incident of Sati?

The legal case stems from an incident in 1988 when, on the first anniversary of her death, 45 people allegedly participated in an event that glorified the practice of Sati. This act violated Section 5 of the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987, which was enacted following Kanwar’s death. The section carries a punishment of up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to Rs 30,000.

Roop Kanwar, 18, was the youngest of six siblings and married Maal Singh of Divrala in Sikar in January 1987. Their marriage lasted only eight months before Singh passed away from an illness in a Sikar hospital. On September 4, 1987, Roop Kanwar allegedly committed Sati by sitting on her husband’s funeral pyre.

Villagers from Divrala recount that on September 4, 1987, following her husband’s death, Roop Kanwar recited the Gayatri Mantra and adorned herself in traditional ‘solah shringaar’ (16 embellishments) while thousands of people from Divrala and nearby villages paraded her through the streets in a ‘shobha yatra’ before she performed Sati.

Political fallout and cultural reverence

The case sparked widespread outrage and is often cited as one of the reasons for the removal of then-Rajasthan Chief Minister Hari Dev Joshi from the Congress party.

Divrala also became a symbol of Rajput pride, with some locals adding the village’s name to their own, drawing comparisons to Chittorgarh’s legendary figure Padmavati, who is said to have self-immolated to avoid capture by Alauddin Khilji’s army.

“We have always maintained that she acted of her own accord, without any provocation or assistance. No one in the family did anything wrong, and for 40 years, the government has been unable to prove otherwise in court,” said Gopal Singh Rathore, Roop Kanwar’s brother, in an interview with the national-daily.