It is no longer the story of Kuttu Bai, wife of Mallu Nai of village Tamali Patna, Dist. Panna of Madhya Pradesh. A 65 year old woman who lived separated from her husband; and two had not lived together for 'as long as the village can remember.' Whatever were the circumstances which led to this breakdown of her marriage for such a prolonged period, the fact itself is relevant. Equally relevant is another fact, that 65 year old Kuttu Bai had five acres of land in her own name.

It threatens to become the story of a sati. Kuttu Bai's murder is now sordidly mixed up. "Sati' is what her two grown up sons would have everybody believe,- one of whom obligingly lit the pyre on which sat his old mother, alive. No doubt mores and superstitions blind many millions in India, but it is also a fact that five acres is a lot of land.

'Sati' is also the decree of the Chairman of the National Commission of Women (NCW), Ms. Purnima Advani, one day after stating that 'no one' in the village would give evidence. This despite widespread media reports that village sarpanch Vimla Chaurasia had informed the police in advance of the burning of 'an intention to commit sati.’ However eventually the NCW has released a report in which it talks of a sati procession, and several rituals which occurred before the police arrived.

However, two policemen were sent to control the situation which anyone can imagine is so coloured and charged with emotions and superstitions, whether or not the victim is a willing participant. Photographs have been taken of a thousand strong crowd and of the burning pyre. There was adequate preparation no doubt by the sons to colour their murder of their mother. Both sons and their wives now talk of Kuttu as 'not being controllable' by four grownups- all of which relies on the listener being ready to believe the superhuman touch.

The MP Govt. has labelled the murder for what it is and has ordered a magisterial enquiry into it. The two sons have also been arrested for murder. However, the enquiry has been diluted before it even started by the 'Sati' certificate issued by NCW. It may be remembered that the same NCW chairperson had written a report on Rape where it was alleged that women in India enjoyed equal rights until Muslim invasions and attacks on the women forced their seclusion into homes.

Kuttu Bai is an even more unlikely candidate for sati than Roop Kanwar. Yet her murder will achieve what all the sati-murders have sought to do from yester years to now. They put away an inconvenient woman. In some cases they also solve the problem of what to do with a young widow, but in the vast majority, as in Kuttu's case, to dispense with the property she would needlessly hang on to. In Kuttu's case it seems definite that the father's death served an opportune moment for the sons.

A major agenda which the case opens up, is the administrative connivance with crimes. Why were ony two policemen sent to the scene especially when the information given was both authentic and exact? Why has action not been taken against the police officer in charge of the concerned thana? After a while, the attention and noise will die down, the case against the brothers may linger on, but locally the myth and market associated with satis will be stoked by those powerful sections who make a living out of exploiting the backwardness of people.