https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=2405%3A201%3A401D%3A5977%3AC433%3A200F%3ADFBF%3AB9B2Bharatpedia - User contributions [en]2026-08-11T21:33:51ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roop_Kanwar&diff=126324Roop Kanwar2021-07-05T08:48:56Z<p>2405:201:401D:5977:C433:200F:DFBF:B9B2: </p>
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<div>{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2013}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
|name = Roopkuvarba Kanwar<br />
|image = <br />
|image_size =<br />
|caption =<br />
|birth_date = [[circa|c.]] 1969<br />
|birth_place =<br />
|death_date = 4 September 1987 (aged 18)<br />
|death_place = [[Deorala]], [[Sikar district]], [[Rajasthan]], India<br />
|resting_place =<br />
|nationality = Indian<br />
|other_names =<br />
|known_for = [[Burning alive]]<br />
|home_town =<br />
|spouse = Maal Singh<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Roopkuvarba Kanwar''' ([[circa|c.]] 1969 – 4 September 1987) was a [[Rajput]] woman who was burned alive 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,<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news|title=The New York Times, 1987 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6D61139F933A1575AC0A961948260|accessdate=31 May 2008 | date=20 September 1987}}</ref> and had no children.<br />
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== Immolation ==<br />
Several thousand people attended. After her death, Roop Kanwar was hailed as a ''sati mata'' – a [[sati (practice)|sati]] mother, or pure mother. The event quickly produced a public outcry in urban centres. The incident led first to state level laws to prevent such incidents, then the central government's [[Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987|Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act]].<ref>{{cite web<br />
|title = The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987<br />
|url = http://www.wcd.nic.in/commissionofsatiprevention.htm<br />
|accessdate = 24 December 2006<br />
|url-status = dead<br />
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061121135632/http://www.wcd.nic.in/commissionofsatiprevention.htm<br />
|archivedate = 21 November 2006<br />
|df = dmy-all<br />
}}</ref><br />
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===News reports===<br />
News reports of the incident present conflicting stories. Earlier findings showed it as voluntary act. Some news reports claim Kanwar was forced to her death by other attendees present.<ref name="nytimes"/> Some reports state that Roop was told she must do Sati to bring honor to the family. <ref>{{cite web<br />
<br />
|url=http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=472<br />
|accessdate=9 July 2007<br />
}}</ref><br />
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===Chargesheet===<br />
The original inquiries resulted in 45 people being charged with her murder; these people were acquitted. A much-publicized later investigation led to the arrest of a large number of people from Deorala, said to have been present in the ceremony, or participants in it. <br />
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Eventually, 11 people, including state politicians, were charged with glorification of sati. On 31 January 2004 a special court in [[Jaipur]] acquitted all of the 11 accused in the case.<ref>{{cite web<br />
|title=Frontline, 2004<br />
|url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2105/stories/20040312002504600.htm<br />
|accessdate=9 July 2007<br />
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010045417/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2105/stories/20040312002504600.htm<br />
|archive-date=13 October 2007<br />
}}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
*{{cite book |last=Kannabiran |first=Kalpana |authorlink=Kalpana Kannabiran |editor-last=Rinehart |editor-first=Robin |title=Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and Practice |date=2004 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=978-1576079058 |pages=284–285 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hMPYnfS_R90C&pg=PA284 |chapter=Voices of Dissent: Gender and Changing Social Values in Hinduism}}<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanwar, Roop}}<br />
[[Category:1969 births]]<br />
[[Category:1987 suicides]]<br />
[[Category:People who committed sati]]<br />
[[Category:People from Sikar district]]<br />
[[Category:Suicide in India]]</div>2405:201:401D:5977:C433:200F:DFBF:B9B2