Lucknow, May 25
Within hours of the death of 80-year-old Rageshwar Tiwari, life seemed unbearable for his 75-year-old wife Ramkumari of Bahudari village in Banda district. Unnoticed by the household, she quietly changed into new clothes and trudged her way to the burning pyre of her husband, adding her name to the list of sati.

The spot under Jaspura police station where the twin pyres were burnt, a 5 feet by 4 feet “chabutra”, symbolising the samadhi, is fast coming up and people are collecting to perform puja at the sati mandir. Yet the police has made no arrests in the case so far.

Speaking to TNS, SP Banda Zaki Ahmad admitted that the incident had indeed taken place on May 7. However, according to him, the district police came to know of it only on May 19, the day the 13th-day rituals were being performed. This was because a large number of people had collected. This included senior leader of Samajwadi Party Jamuna Prasad Bose, who had attended the rituals and had also informally informed the police about the incident.

However, the SP said that an on-the-spot inquiry conducted by the ADM and the Additional SP found no sign of glorification of sati, hence no charges could be framed against anyone. In a case of sati, charges can be framed if there is evidence of attempt of self-immolation, provocation for self-immolation or glorification of sati.

Mr Ahmad said that after the death of Rageshwar his family took him to the crematorium around 6 p.m., which was about 1 km from the village. The family returned even as the body was burning.