Hundreds still flock to sati site

Mahoba UP, NOV 14: The police have detained two relatives of a 55-year-old woman who allegedly committed sati' in Satpurwan village ne...

Mahoba UP, NOV 14: The police have detained two relatives of a 55-year-old woman who allegedly committed sati8217; in Satpurwan village near here Thursday as hundreds of people on Sunday continued to flock the site of the incident. Amid contradictory reports from authorities and locals about Charan Shah jumping into her husband8217;s funeral pyre, police have detained her brother Malkhan and son Shishupal for questioning.

Despite the district police chief L Ravi kumar terming the incident as quot;suicidequot;, locals say nearly 30,000 people, mostly women and children, have so far visited the site to pay their obeisance transforming the venue into a place of worship. There seems to be no takers for the official version of the incident as locals extol the quot;decades-old emotional bondquot; between Charan and her ailing husband.

Hordes of women are visiting this dusty village of Bundelkhand to offer flowers and sindoor to what they regard as sati sthal.

The district police chief said Charan committed quot;suicidequot; by jumpinginto the funeral pyre in a fit of madness but her family members claim quot;going by her actions and mood on that day it seems she was mentally prepared for the actquot;.

Shah8217;s sister-in-law Prakash Rani said, quot;Charan first lit three diyas at the cremation ground, had a bath and then attired in bridal finery she suddenly rushed to the site of cremation. By the time other women could prevent her she jumped into the pyre.quot;

8220;Once she sat on the pyre, everybody watched her with folded hands and allowed her to become a sati,quot; Rani told visiting newsmen adding police reached quite late and later arrested Malkhan and Shishupal.

The Mahoba SP Kumar, who has been probing the incident said Charan Shah rushed towards burning pyre of her dead husband, who was a tuberculosis patient, in a fit of hysteria.

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Those present at the site tried to stop her but she broke free and jumped into the pyre and quot;burnt herself to deathquot;, he said adding post-mortem could not be conducted as her body had been reduced to ashes.

Heasserted that the incident could not be termed as quot;an act of satiquot; as no ceremony was performed before the act.

However, local villagers have been reverentially telling stories of how much Charan was attached to her husband and committed quot;satiquot; unable to bear the loss.

Some villagers say there was no one near the cremation ground when Charan became sati.