Another sati in 2 months jolts State

A 95-YEAR-OLD woman on Wednesday committed sati at village Panihari of Chhatarpur district. Sources said 100-year-old Siyaram Rajput died after a prolonged illness at the village in Gourihar tehsil and his wife Karuya Devi jumped onto his funeral pyre.

”We have received information about 95-year-old Karuya,  wife of Siyaram Rajput, committing suicide this evening,” Chhatarpur Collector Ajatshatru Srivastava told PTI over phone.

Asked whether it was an act of sati, he said the information received from the village said it was “but we can only confirm after we verify it.”

The Collector and Superintendent of Police rushed to the spot, about 100 km from the district headquarters. The village kotwar reported the matter to police in the evening.

According to unofficial sources, Karuya Devi had declared earlier that she would commit sati in the event of her husband’s death.

Karuya committed the act before anybody could stop her, the sources said. The incident comes after a similar incident in Tulsipar in Sagar district on August 21. Janak Rani, 45, had jumped onto the funeral pyre of her husband. The district administration and the State Government had described the incident as a suicide.

No case has yet been registered in connection with the incident, a senior police official said adding action would be taken if any one was found guilty of driving her to commit sati.