An old woman recently committed ‘sati’ after the death of her husband in Bihar. She jumped into the funeral pyre out of her own volition but that does not undermine the fact that still customs/rituals like ‘sati’ exist in India. The mindset of people is broadening rapidly but it will still take atleast 10-20 years to totally get rid of these customs among Indians living in villages. I sincerely hope and believe that the frequency of occurrence of these incidents will go down and down every time such an incident takes place.
I also hope that the hate-filled hawks/jerks (they themselves know whom I am referring to) will not use this as an opportunity to malign India.
PATNA: An old woman has allegedly committed ‘sati’ by jumping into the funeral pyre of her husband in a Bihar village, though officials Sunday said a police report on the incident was awaited.
Sita Devi, 77, allegedly committed sati Thursday in Sidhpur village of Gaya district.
Her son Rama Shankar confirmed that his mother had committed sati by jumping into the funeral pyre of his father Sugreo Prasad, who had died after a prolonged illness.
Sita Devi was very religious and used to say that she wanted to die before her husband, local reports quoted Shankar as saying.
When the family members were asleep after cremating the 82-year-old father Thursday night, Sita Devi went to the cremation ground and jumped into the still burning funeral pyre and died subsequently, according to the son.
“She was found missing on Friday morning and the family members started looking for her. They later found her burnt body in the funeral pyre,” a relative said.
While the alleged incident has created a sensation in Gaya district, the administration is yet to take any action.
The local police have been asked to submit a report on the alleged incident, a senior district administration official told IANS.
Meanwhile, many people started thronging the site where Sita Devi committed sati to pay tribute to her, even as a makeshift temple was put up by villagers there to worship the “sati mata”.
Two year ago, one Rukia Devi, 80, allegedly committed sati in Shakardiha village of Samastipur district.
