Motilal Nehru defended 6 men accused of aiding Sati in 1913
Op IndiaMotilal Nehru, the father of former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, had once defended 6 men who were accused of facilitating and abetting the burning of a woman on the cremation pyre of her husband. As per a report by British Broadcasting Corporation titled ‘Sati: How the fight to ban burning of widows in India was won,’ journalist Soutik Biswas informed that Motilal Nehru defended the 6 accused in a case in Uttar Pradesh in 1913. “In a curious twist, Motilal Nehru, a lawyer-politician who joined the Indian National Congress and played a key role in the campaign for independence from British rule, appeared in court defending six upper-caste men in a case of Sati in 1913 in Uttar Pradesh,” the report read. It was later in 1987 that Motilal Nehru’s great-grandson Rajiv Gandhi implemented the Commission of Sati Act, which outlawed the glorification of Sati, and re-introduced the death penalty for abetment.