65-year-old woman commits 'sati' by jumping on funeral pyre of husband in Bihar

December 15, 2014

SatiBihar, Dec 15: A 65-year-old woman allegedly committed 'sati' by jumping into the funeral pyre of her husband in a village in Bihar's Saharsa district.

Saharsa Superintendent of Police Pankaj Sinha said it happened at Parminia village under Kahra block in the district, around 250 km from the state capital, and the deceased woman has been identified Dahwa Devi.

"Her husband Charitra Yadav (70) had been suffering from cancer for a long time. He died yesterday. His children and relatives arrived in the afternoon and took his body for cremation near a temple in the village," the SP said.

The last rites got over by evening and the group of people returned and was taking bath near a village borewell. The deceased woman and her daughter-in-law had remained at their home as per the custom.

Meanwhile, Yadav's son Ramesh Mandal started searching for his mother so that she could also take a bath, but she was nowhere to be found. Somebody told the grieving family that Devi was seen going towards the place where Yadav was cremated.

"Mandal and other family members ran towards the place and saw that Devi had already jumped into the funeral pyre and died. They then performed her last rites too in the same pyre," Sinha said.

The SP, who had rushed to the village to investigate the incident, said funeral pyres in Saharsa area are traditionally made of timber, sandalwood, cow-dung cakes and other combustible materials. They on an average are around four feet high and burn for a long time. The pyre into which Devi jumped had much fire when the incident happened.

The SP said the entire incident happened within a span of 30 minutes after Yadav's cremation got over and the family members returned to take bath.

"We have probed the incident and also video recorded the statements of the villagers. They all have corroborated the incident. Devi was grieving, but otherwise, was mentally sound. We have taken it as suicide and not filed a case in the matter," the SP said.

'Sati' refers to a funeral ritual in which a recently widowed woman immolates herself on the husband's funeral pyre.

The practice was banned by a law passed by William Bentick, the Governor of Bengal in 1829 in Bengal Presidency, which was later extended in 1830 to Madras and Bombay Presidencies.

Comments

Taylor
 - 
Wednesday, 9 Mar 2016

Hi there, I discovered your website by means of Google whilst searching for a similar subject, your website
came up, it seems good. I've bookmarked it in my
google bookmarks.
Hi there, just was alert to your weblog thru
Google, and found that it is truly informative. I'm going to be careful for brussels.
I will be grateful for those who proceed this in future. Numerous other people can be benefited from your writing.
Cheers!

My website; how to get rid of hives (www.elektrobachem.de: http://www.elektrobachem.de/index.php?mod=users&action=view&id=427472)

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 28,2020

Hyderabad, MAY 28: A three-year-old boy who accidentally fell into a newly drilled open borewell in Telangana's Medak district was found dead in the early hours of Thursday, police said.

The kid's body was retrieved at around 4 am after a nearly 10 hours' long rescue operation involving different agencies, they said.

"He died a while before we evacuated him, most likely due to the mud that covered him from the top sealing off necessary oxygen supply, " Medak District Superintendent of Police Chandana Deepti told PTI.

The boy had accidentally slipped into the 120- feet borewell at around 5 pm on Wednesday in an agricultural field located in Papannapet mandal of the district when he was walking with his grandfather and father, police earlier said.

As part of rescue efforts, a parallel trench was dug along the borewell hole with the help of earth excavating machines and oxygen was supplied into it, but the efforts went in vain as the boy's body was found stuck at a depth of around 25 feet, the police said.

Apart from the police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were also involved in the rescue operation.

The borewell into which the child fell was one among the three dug by the family since Tuesday night to try and find water for their fields. But none of them yielded any water, police had said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 19,2020

New Delhi, Jul 19: At least six people were killed and 20 injured when a bus overturned after colliding with a private vehicle at Agra - Lucknow Expressway in the wee hours of Sunday. According to initial reports, the bus carrying around 40 passengers toppled after hitting a stranded SUV at around 5 am, 122 km from Lucknow.

A police team reached the spot within a few minutes of the accident and rescued the injured with the help of locals. They were rushed to a nearby hospital. “Five passengers were killed on the spot while another died minutes after reaching the hospital,” Hindustan Times quoted Kannauj DSP Amarendra PD Singh as saying.

Around 20 other passengers have also sustained injuries who were admitted to the hospital, the police said. The bus had started from Bihar's Darbhanga and was en route to Delhi. "The private bus was coming from Darbangha and going to Delhi when it hit a car. Both the vehicles came down from the highway," a senior police official told news agency ANI.

Meanwhile, authorities are trying to ascertain the identity of the deceased. UP CM Yogi Adityanath expressed over the loss of lives and directed officials to ensure all help to the victims.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
April 14,2020

New Delhi, Apr 14: A 35-year-old man has been booked by the police for refusing to eat food at a quarantine centre on the ground that it had been cooked by a Dalit.

Reports said Siraj Ahmad, a native of Bhujouli Khurd village under Khadda police station in Kushinagar district, had returned from Delhi on March 29, and was staying at the quarantine centre at the village primary school along with other four people.

On Friday, village head, Lilawati Devi, in absence of the cook, prepared food in the quarantine centre for all the five people but Siraj refused to eat it.

Police, after conducting investigation, registered a FIR against him under the SC/ST Act on Monday.

The village head had lodged a written complaint with the police on Friday and also informed sub-divisional magistrate Desh Deepak Singh and block development officer Ramakant.

SHO Khadda police station, R.K. Yadav said that a case against Siraj was registered under the SC/ST Act.

Meanwhile, on Saturday evening, Vijay Dubey, the local BJP MLA, went to the house of village head and asked her to serve him food cooked by her.

"Untouchability is a social evil that cannot be tolerated at any cost," he said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.