NEW DELHI, India, Nov. 22, Reuter: Roop Kanwar, a young Indian widow said to have committed suttee (ritual suicide) by dying on her husband’s funeral pyre last September, was burnt alive by her relatives, a court heard, The Press Trust of India news agency on Sunday reported a preliminary hearing in Jaipur against 32 members of Kanwar’s family and others who had witnessed the suttee in the village of Deorala north-west India, on September 4. The suttee was hailed by traditional Hindus as a holy act which ensured that Kanwarl became a demi-Goddess, but the detailed charge-sheet at Saturday’s hearing painted a horrifying picture of ritual murder of a teenage girl. According to the charge-sheet, the 18-year-old widow was forced onto the funeral pyre by four men armed with swords and was covered to shoulder height with fire ‘wood so that she could not get off
At one stage the fire went out and Kanwar tried to free herself, the charge-sheet said, but the accused her back, gathered brushwood and relit it, Twice she tried to speak but her cries were drowned by shouts from some 400 villagers gathered to watch, it added, The charge-sheet also alleged that the accused, who include Kanvars father-in-law, started collecting funds from devotees the day after the suttee, This and other indications ‘suggest vested interest behind their act and their criminal aims”, it said.
Police are seeking the doctor who treated Kanwar’s husband, the circumstances of whose death are still unclear. The doctor is alleged to have falsely written in hospital records that Kanwar’s father was an inpatient at the time of the suttee.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 27, 1987
