On September 4, 1987 a pretty bride of eight months “… a young girl of 18 in the village of Deorala in Rajasthan (northwest India) was murdered. She was burnt alive on the funeral pyre of her husband. Yet, according to local tradition, Roop Kanwar had become a ‘sati’ and had ‘voluntarily’ immolated herself as she sat with her dead husband’s head in her lap even as family members lit the funeral pyre and curious villagers watched. Her cries for help drew no response from the spectators.” Remembering Roop Kanwar, by Kalpana Sharma.  Published in  in India’s national newspaper, The Hindu.

The Bengal Sati Regulation banned the Hindu practice of Sati (also spelled Suttee) in British India on December 4, 1829. This practice is centuries old but slowly being eradicated.