Sati[edit]
Main article: Sati (practice)
According to Commission (Prevention) of Sati Act 1987, Sati is defined as the act of burning alive or burial of a widow (or any women) along with the body of her deceased husband (including relatives, or object belonging someone like that), irrespective of whether it was voluntary.[11] After he watched the Sati of his own sister-in-law, Ram Mohan Roy began campaigning for abolition of the practice in 1811.[12] The practice of Sati was abolished in British India in 1829 by Governor General Lord William Bentinck.[13] Although it has been therefore illegal in India for almost two centuries, some incidents have been in recorded in recent years.
Death of Roop Kanwar[edit]
Main article: Roop Kanwar
On 4 September 1987, 17 (or 18) year old Roop Kanwar of Deorala village in Sikar district in Rajasthan, who had been married for only 7 months,[14] burned to death on her husband's pyre.[15] It was alleged that the victim had tried to escape, but she was drugged and forced on to the pyre.[16][17] On 1 October 1987, Rajasthan legislative assembly passed an ordinance against Sati, which was later turned into an Act.[18] It was followed by pro-Sati rallies and protests in Jaipur.[18][19] On 3 January 1988,[20] the Indian parliament passed a new law, Commission (Prevention) of Sati Act 1987, based on Rajasthan's legislation of 1987.[14] This act also criminalised glorification of Sati.[14] Police charged her father-in-law and brother-in-law of allegedly forcing her to commit the act, but they were acquitted in October 1996.[21]
Human sacrifice[edit]
See also: Human sacrifice in India
Although, human sacrifices are not prevalent in India, rare isolated incidents happen occasionally, especially in rural areas. In some cases, human beings have been replaced by animals and birds. But after backlash from animal rights groups, in some places they have been replaced by human effigies.[22] The beliefs behind these sacrifices vary from inducing rainfall to helping childless women conceive.[23] It is alleged that some cases often go unreported or are covered up.[24]
In 2006, in a village in Uttar Pradesh state, a boy was kidnapped, mutilated and killed by a woman and her two sons to cure her nightmares and visions. She had been advised to do so by a tantric or witch-doctor.[24][25] In 2009, in a village near Vidarbha in Maharashtra state, a childless couple were advised by a tantric to sacrifice eleven children, which would allow them to conceive. The couple managed to kill five children, between December 2009 and March 2010, by poisoning before they were discovered and arrested. A sixth child survived the poisoning.[23] In 2011, the mutilated body of a girl was found in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, she was suspected to have been killed under the belief that it would ensure a better harvest.[26]