Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 is a law enacted by Government of Rajasthan in 1987. It became an Act of the Parliament of India with the enactment of The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 in 1988. The Act seeks to prevent sati , the voluntary or forced burning or burying alive of a widow, and to prohibit glorification of this action through the observance of any ceremony, participation in any procession, creation of a financial trust, construction of a temple, or any actions to commemorate or honor the memory of a widow who committed sati. [1] The act was created after the sati of Roop Kanwar in 1987.
The act incorporated many colonial suppositions about the practice of sati, with the first paragraph of the preamble of the Act copying the opening lines of Lord William Bentinck’s Regulation XVII of December 4, 1829 verbatim [2] .
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition. It was the first legal instrument to codify genocide as a crime, and the first human rights treaty unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, on 9 December 1948, during the third session of the United Nations General Assembly. The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951 and has 153 state parties as of June 2024.
A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died and has usually not remarried. The male form, "widower", is first attested in the 14th century, by the 19th century supplanting "widow" with reference to men. The adjective for either sex is widowed. These terms are not applied to a divorcé(e) following the death of an ex-spouse.
Sati or suttee is a practice, a chiefly historical one, in which a Hindu widow burns alive—either voluntarily or by coercion—on her deceased husband's funeral pyre. Although it is debated whether it received scriptural mention in early Hinduism, it has been linked to related Hindu practices in the Indo-Aryan-speaking regions of India, which have diminished the rights of women, especially those to the inheritance of property. A cold form of sati, or the neglect and casting out of Hindu widows, has been prevalent from ancient times. Greek sources from around c. 300 BCE make isolated mention of sati, but it probably developed into a real fire sacrifice in the medieval era within northwestern Rajput clans to which it initially remained limited, to become more widespread during the late medieval era.
Lieutenant General Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, known as Lord William Bentinck, was a British military commander and politician who served as the governor of Fort William (Bengal) from 1828 to 1834 and the first governor-general of India from 1834 to 1835.
The Townshend Acts or Townshend Duties were a series of British acts of Parliament passed during 1767 and 1768 introducing a series of taxes and regulations to enable administration of the British colonies in America. They are named after the Chancellor of the Exchequer who proposed the program. Historians vary slightly as to which acts they include under the heading "Townshend Acts", but five are often listed:
Hindu texts present diverse views on the position of women, ranging from feminine leadership as the highest goddess, to limiting gender roles. The Devi Sukta hymn of Rigveda, a scripture of Hinduism, declares the feminine energy as the essence of the universe, the one who creates all matter and consciousness, the eternal and infinite, the metaphysical and empirical reality (Brahman), the soul, of everything. The woman is celebrated as the most powerful and the empowering force in some Hindu Upanishads, Sastras and Puranas, particularly the Devi Upanishad, Devi Mahatmya and Devi-Bhagavata Purana.
The status of women in India has been subject to many changes over the time of recorded India's history. Their position in society underwent significant changes during India's ancient period, particularly in the Indo-Aryan speaking regions, and their subordination continued to be reified well into India's early modern period.
Forced suicide is a method of execution where the victim is coerced into committing suicide to avoid facing an alternative option they perceive as much worse, such as being tortured to death, suffering public humiliation, or having friends or family members imprisoned, tortured or killed.
Criticism of Hinduism has been applied to both the historical and the current aspects of Hinduism, notably the caste system and the sati practice.
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, commonly known as TADA, was an Indian anti-terrorism law which was in force between 1985 and 1995 amid the Punjab insurgency and applied to the whole of India. It was originally assented to by the President on 23 May 1985 and came into effect on 24 May 1985. This act was intended to halt the Khalistani Movement, an armed Sikh separatist movement present in Punjab. It later expanded to encompass other states as well. The Act had a sunset provision for lapsing after two years post-commencement, which it did on 24 May 1987. The Parliament not being in session, the life of the Act could not be extended. But the provisions were kept alive by an ordinance effective from the expiry date of the Act. This ordinance was later replaced with the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987. It was assented to on 3 September 1987, and made effective in two parts from 24 May 1987 and 3 September 1987. This also had a sunset provision of two years from 24 May 1987. It was renewed in 1989, 1991 and 1993 before being allowed to lapse in 1995 due to increasing unpopularity after widespread allegations of abuse. It was the first anti-terrorism law legislated by the government to define and counter terrorist activities.
Roopkuvarba Kanwar was an Indian Rajput woman who was allegedly forced to immolate herself in an act of Sati at Deorala village of Sikar district in Rajasthan, India. At the time, she was 18 years old and had been married for eight months to Maal Singh Shekhawat, who had died a day earlier at age 24, and had no children.
In the Philippines, a constitutional convention is one of the three ways to amend the Constitution of the Philippines. Others include a People's Initiative and the Constituent Assembly. Article XVII, Section 3 of the Constitution says, "The Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of all its Members, call a constitutional convention, or by a majority vote of all its Members, submit to the electorate the question of calling such a convention."
"Goonda" is a term used in the Indian subcontinent for hired criminals and gangsters. It is both a colloquial term and defined and used in laws, generally referred to as Goonda Acts.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development, a branch of the Government of India, is an apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to women and child development in India. The current minister for the Ministry of Women and Child Development is Annpurna Devi having held the portfolio since 2024.
The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act 1856, also Act XV, 1856, passed on 16 July 1856, legalised the remarriage of widows in all jurisdictions of India under East India Company rule. The law was enacted on 26 July 1856. It was drafted by Lord Dalhousie and passed by Lord Canning before the Indian Rebellion of 1857. It was the first major social reform legislation after the abolition of sati pratha in 1829 by Lord William Bentinck.
Anumarana or Anugamana refers to the ancient Indian practice of self-immolation by which anyone with personal loyalty to the deceased could commit suicide at a loved one's funeral. Anumarana was practiced usually by the widowed wives, when learnt of husband's death at battlefield or elsewhere and he had been already cremated. The widow then resolves to take away her life and immolated herself with husband's ashes or padukas or other such memento. The practice of Anumarana is mentioned in Kamasutra. In Mahabharata, there is a mention of Anumarana being practiced by widows of Kshatriyas on rare occasions. The practice has been described to be prevalent northern India and had existed before the Gupta Empire. As per custom, the Brahmin women were only permitted to die by Sahamarana and were not allowed the right of anumarana; however, non-Brahmin women could decide to immolate herself both by sahamarana or anumarana Anumarana was not comparable to later understandings of the practice of sati, as in this widows did not self-immolate in funeral pyre of her husband. When a widow immolated herself with the husband's dead body, it was called Sahamarana or Sahagamana
The Bengal Sati Regulation, or Regulation XVII, A. D. 1829 of the Bengal Code was a legal act promulgated in British India under East India Company rule, by the then Governor-General Lord William Bentinck. The act made the practice of sati—or the immolation of a Hindu widow on the funeral pyre of her deceased husband—illegal in all jurisdictions of British India and subject to legal prosecution.
Superstition refers to any belief or practice that is caused by supernatural causality, and which contradicts modern science. Superstitious beliefs and practices often vary from one person to another or from one culture to another.
Rani Sati, also identified as Narayani Devi and referred to as Dadiji (grandmother), is said to be a Rajasthani woman who lived sometime between the 13th and the 17th century and committed sati (self-immolation) on her husband's death. Various temples in Rajasthan and elsewhere are devoted to her worship and to commemorate her act.
Dharma Sabha was formed in 1830 in Calcutta by Radhakanta Deb. The organization was established mainly to counter the ongoing social reform movements led by protagonists such as Raja Ram Mohun Roy and Henry Derozio. More specifically, the impetus of forming the organization came from a new law enacted by the colonial British rule which banned the practice of burning widows alive (sati) in the country; the focus of the new association was to repel the law which was seen as an intrusion by the British into the religious affairs of the indigenous people by some sections of the Hindu community. The Dharma Sabha filed an appeal in the Privy Council against the ban on Sati by Lord William Bentinck as, according to them, it went against the assurance given by George III of non-interference in Hindu religious affairs; however, their appeal was rejected and the ban on Sati was upheld in 1832. It published a newspaper called Samachar Chandrika.