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`Sati' site ploughed with tractor

To prevent glorification of the medieval ritual

Chhatarpur (M.P.) : The Sati site at Baniyani village in Chhatarpur district has been ploughed with a tractor to prevent glorification of the medieval ritual.

Deployment of heavy police force and other measures were taken by the district administration to discourage people to come closer to the site where 95-year-old Karouyya Devi committed sati on the pyre of her 100-year-old husband Siyaraj Rajput, who died of prolonged illness on September 20.

"The district administration had removed every symbol of the `sati' pyre and ploughed the area with a tractor," official sources said. Meanwhile, eyewitnesses accounts pouring in nearly 48 hours after the incident said the woman had followed all rituals -- she had donned a red saree, completed her make up (shringar) and walked behind the funeral procession carrying coconut on both hands and chanting the name of `Rama'.

Other women accompanied her and the villages prepared a round funeral pyre.

The woman -- who could not walk properly without the support of a stick -- slowly took seven rounds of the pyre before sitting on it, kept the head of her husband on her lap and indicated her younger son, Drigpal, to lit the pyre. There were sounds of `jaikara (hailing)' from all sides and people started throwing flowers, coins, coconuts and `prasad' as the flames leapt up in the sky. Everything was completed within one-and-half hour and whoever heard about the incident started running towards the spot.

Police reached at the spot at 9 p.m.. By the time, everything was over.

A villager, requesting anonymity, said it was all pre-planned and family members did not dissuade her for fear of some ill luck similar to that befallen on a family of nearby village after they prevented `sati' few years back. A magisterial inquiry had been ordered into the incident. State Women Commission member Saroj Rajput and cabinet minister Kusum Mehdele are slated to visit the village. Karouyya Devi's four sons had been arrested on murder charge and sent to jail. Police also registered cases against 25 villagers, including 10 women, in this regard. -- UNI

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