The Case of Known-Unknown

Sati

Thirteen

21st March 2003

11 A.M.

The coffee worked its magic. Syna was back in her shape, although her mind wandered far away.

   'Clear my doubts.' Dexter frowned. 'Sati was abolished way back in 1829, as you have claimed. Rahul Arora was roughly in his mid-fifties, so there's no chance for even his grandmother to have committed Sati.'

   'Maybe you didn't read the letter thoroughly.' Syna taunted. 'It says, "Although debarred, justice was never done."'

   'Which means it was recent. Let's say, somewhere around 1970 or 1980s.' Akash explained.

   'And how do we find that out?' Dexter asked. Akash browsed around the cabin and halted at Syna's desk.

   'That's a computer, isn't it?' he asked and Syna nodded,

   'Does it have this recent network connection, called the "Internet"?' she nodded again.

   'Either of you knows how to use it?'

   'Of course, we do. The department was trained by a specialist when it was introduced in our cities.' Dexter was surprised at Akash's naivety.

   'Very well. Help me out with something then.'

Akash and Syna took their seats in front of the desktop. Syna started typing briskly.

   'Now search for, "Recent cases of illegal practices of Sati in India".' Syna obliged.

Within seconds, ample amounts of data were displayed on the desktop. Syna clicked on the first link, which led them to another page, which reported around 30 cases of Sati Acts in different states and cities of India. They started going through all of them, hoping to find any link with Rahul Arora.

   'This is all a waste of time.' Syna sighed, frustrated. 'We aren't even sure if "Rahul" was his real name-'

   'One thing I don't understand, "Pure love" who exactly is it dedicated to?'

   'Maybe his mother or sister. We'll find out if we're lucky.' Akash said, carefully reading through every single detail.

Several minutes passed by, they were almost at the end of the list. All of the cases were either reported as 'accidents' by the onlookers or were still on hold.

   'That's it. I think we got it.' Syna exclaimed. She clicked on case no. 27.

"Meena Arora, Calcutta, January 1971."

   'Arora!' Akash almost lost his breath. Syna and Dexter swallowed their excitement.

   'The case concerning Meena Arora, against a band of different lower- class families was filed by the plaintiff, Varsha Arora, with respect to the Sati Prevention Act.' Syna read. 'Varsha Arora, daughter of the deceased, Meena Arora, accused a band of different lower-class families of external dictated pressure. They forced the victim, Meena Arora to commit the banned practice, Sati, in the event of her husband's death. The defence, on the other hand, refused to plead guilty and also provided circumstantial evidence, along with witnesses, which proved that the practice committed by the widow was voluntary. Taking the various witnesses and arguments into consideration, the court passed the judgement in favour of the defence, and the accused were excused from all charges.'

They all took long breaths and stared at the screen. The link was caught.

   'Search for any survivors of the family.' Akash suggested, Syna scrolled in and read,