The 75-year -old Rajkumari, who apparently committed sati on May 7 in this desolate Uttar Pradesh village, is already a bit of a local legend. In this wretchedly poor Bundelkhand region, it is not difficult to guess why.Residents from even nearby villages began coming to the site once the word was out, on May 22. Five policemen were posted at the cremation spot to keep an eye on ‘‘devotees’’. Some of them, including Samajwadi Party leader and two-time cabinet minister Jamuna Prasad Bose, performed puja at the makeshift chabutara (platform). Four policemen have also been deployed at the dead woman’s house.“Villagers are not coming in large number because of the police presence. Once they go, we will worship here,’’ says Santosh Yadav, a shepherd.Surendra Singh, SHO of the Jaspura police station, has another view, ‘‘We are here since Tuesday but no one has come to perform puja. Nobody saw her coming to the pyre.’’ How did Rajkumari die? ‘‘On May 7, after performing the last rites of Dadaji (Jageshwar Tiwari), we did not find Badi Amma (Rajkumari) at home,’’ remembers Shivbabu Tiwari, nephew of the late couple, ‘‘we asked our neigbours, but on not getting a positive answer, searched for her and hurried to the pyre. The scene was ghastly. On the pyre, we found her body. This is the fact, you can draw your conclusions.’’If this account is correct, it appears a case of suicide caused by depression over her husband’s death. Rajkumari’s eldest son, Rajendra, informed the police, but it apparently refused to register an FIR. ‘‘It is a clear-cut case of suicide,’’ says Ram Gopal, circle officer, Banda, ‘‘no one motivated her to perform sati, neither was she taken to the pyre in a procession. And no one is glorifying the incident. These three clauses are crucial as per the Sati Act.’’
