8 acquitted India’s 'last' sati case: What was Roop Kanwar case?

The site where Roop Kanwar is said to have committed sati.

After 37 years, a Jaipur special court acquitted the eight accused in the Roop Kanwar sati case.

These eight people had allegedly held an event glorifying Roop Kanwar around the first anniversary of her alleged sati act. This was reportedly India’s last Sati act. Sati Niwaran court special judge Akshi Kansal acquitted Mahendra Singh, Shrawan Singh, Nihal Singh, Jitendra Singh, Uday Singh, Dasrath Singh, Laxman Singh and Bhanwar Singh. All eight were out on bail.

“We are yet to get the detailed order but the court has pronounced its verdict, acquitting eight persons today. The court said that the prosecution could not prove its case beyond doubt, and hence, giving the benefit of doubt to the eight, acquitted them,” advocate Aman Chain Singh Shekhawat, representing the accused, told Indian Express.

What was the Roop Kanwar sati case?

Roop Kanwar (18) had married Maal Singh from Divrala in Sikar in January 1987. Singh died of an illness in a Sikar hospital eight months later. On September 4, 1987, Roop Kanwar is said to have sat on her husband’s funeral pyre and committed sati.

In 1988 around the first anniversary of her death, 45 people allegedly held an event glorifying the event. This violated Section 5 (punishment for glorification of sati) of The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987, a law that was enacted after Roop Kanwar’s death. The punishment for violation of this section carries imprisonment of up to seven years and a fine of up to Rs 30,000.

“To prove the violation of section 5, section 3 (attempt to commit sati) needed to be proved. However, the prosecution, the investigation agency, could not prove section 3 itself, that sati took place. There was no material evidence which could prove that sati took place and that it was subsequently glorified,” Shekhawat told IE.

According to reports, of the 45 accused in this case, 25 were acquitted in 2004 for lack of evidence.

“Since the beginning we have been saying that she committed the act on her own and there was no incitement or abetment. No one in the family did anything wrong. And the government too hasn’t been able to prove anything in the courts in 40 years,” Gopal Singh Rathore, Roop Kanwar’s brother, told IE.