Roop Kanwar

Roopkuvarba Kanwar (c. 1969 – 4 September 1987) was a teenaged Hindu Rajput widow in India who was burned on her husband's funeral pyre 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. The crowd which witnessed her death approved of the act and regarded it as willing, although some contemporary news reports say she was coerced or too mentally unhealthy to be culpable. Her death prompted public debate in India over the practice of sati. Roop Kanwar's death led to changes in both state and national laws to prevent sati and to prohibit its glorification. Although 45 people were charged for her death, by 2024, all had been acquitted.