E-Paper
Spectator deaths
The government is planning to supplement the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987, with new clauses that will charge anyone present during an attempted act of this 'ritualistic suicide' of 'abetment'.
The government is planning to supplement the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987, with new clauses that will charge anyone present during an attempted act of this 'ritualistic suicide' of 'abetment'. The debate, thankfully, is no longer whether the woman is wilfully throwing herself on to the pyre, but about who is responsible for committing the crime of 'taking' a human life. The 'abetment', in the new scheme of things, will no longer be restricted to those who 'push' someone to committing sati, but also to those present who fail to stop the act. This really does mark a necessary step of blocking legal-theological loopholes that allow self-immolation of this nature to still exist in 21st century India.
But should 'abetting' a death by 'not doing anything' be a crime restricted to sati? Last week, when a trader in Chandigarh immolated himself before national television, living rooms across India were not only witness to a grisly death, but also to the fact that the crowd that had gathered around the man as he went up in flames did next to nothing to stop him. Not only did we see people egging the man on by garlanding him before his 'brave, desperate' act against government apathy, but we also realised that TV cameramen were too busy — and 'too professional' — to stop an act that would fill some prime time.
Suicide is a crime according to the law of the land, as is the abetment of a suicide. No matter what the onlookers — including the TV crews — may be saying now, a man's death could have been avoided. The new rules that should apply to sati should apply to all forms of suicide. There are many reasons why people may want to commit suicide, these reasons making perfect 'sense' to them if the will to die is genuine. But it is for the citizenry, as much as it is for the State, to ensure that life is preserved. Turning a private tragedy into a tamasha must be legally, morally a crime.
