In MP, woman commits ‘sati’, admn moves in to stop glorification

The 50-year-old woman, who had been nursing her paralytic husband for the last five years, jumped into the pyre of her own volition, the family members said, adding that she did it without their knowledge.

Meanwhile, the administration has moved in quickly to prevent attempts at glorifying the act.

Male members of the family were taking their ritual bath after cremating Premnarayan, when she left the house telling her family members that she was going to attend nature’s call. When she did not return for a long time, they searched for her in the village. They finally found her dead on the pyre of her husband.

“Only a portion of her chest was visible when I found her on my father’s pyre,’’ Pappu, her youngest son told The Indian Express on Tuesday. “There is no dearth of wood in the village, the fire was still simmering when I ran home frightened.’’ No one in the sparsely populated village saw her commit the act, or heard her scream. By the time police arrived in the evening, only her charred remains were left.

“She was very close to father and probably did not want to live without him,’’ her eldest son Ramavtar said. She gave no indication of what was on her mind. “We would have stopped her had she told us about it. No one instigated her,’’ he added.

The tribal family worships Hindu gods and had even contributed to the building of a temple a few years ago before falling upon bad times due to Premnarayan’s illness. “Tribals don’t believe in sati,” sarpanch Bhagwan Singh said, as police officials watched.

Police personnel were posted in the village and around the pyre to prevent people from making any offerings.

Many villagers who stay around Tulsipar were certain that it was a case of sati and came up with stories in support.

Her sons said she was wearing a white sari when she left home, but the other villagers were not ready to agree. Some burnt pieces of red cloth were found near the pyre in the family’s farm. Tulsipar residents were not very forthcoming but for others from nearby areas it was proof that she was wearing a red sari as worn by women while committing sati.

SDPO S R Satya said the couple had been living almost separately in the same house. She cooked separately for him and shared the same food, while the sons and their families ate separately. A senior officer suggested that tension in the family could have drove her to commit the act. The five-acre farm had recently been divided among Premanarayan’s three sons. Despite the land holding the family has little money with the three brothers working as labourers to supplement farm income. — (With inputs from ENS, Delhi)