It is generally believed that criminal law is gender biased. To a certain extent it is true. In the process of its evolution, it appears that the criminal law system has kept 'reasonable -man' in view as its basic unit. This much is evident from the present practice also.

It is unfortunate that a measure of confusion has set in about the precise nature and ramifications regarding the immolation - whether self, sati, or otherwise of the 55-yearold Charan Shah on the funeral pyre of her husband at Satpura in Uttar Pradesh on November 11.

The self-immolation by Charan Shah on the funeral pyre of her husband in a remote hamlet in Mahoba district in Uttar Pradesh has elicited a spate of articles dealing with the practice of Sati. Of these, a number of articles by Ms.

It was in Deorala village in Rajasthan on September 3, 1987 that the last incident of sati was reported. Then an 18-year-old Roop Kanwar had committed sati by jumping into the funeral pyre of her 23-year-old Rajput husband, Maal Singh.

The Maharashtra government introduced a much-awaited and talked about bill in the state assembly: the Maharashtra Regulation of the Use of Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1988.

While talking about law and homosexuality, I am reminded of a story of a washerman and his donkey. The donkey refused to move with the heavy bundle of clothes on his back from his house to the pond. The washerman nailed a carrot to a stick, which was tied in front of the animal's mouth.

As with Bhanwari Devi, gross injustice was committed in the Roop Kanwar sati case, when yet another session court in Rajasthan, acquitted all 32 of the accused in October last year.

The Widows’ and Orphans’ Pension Fund (Amendment) Act, No.

The Hindu Widows Remarriage and Property Act, 1989, represents a significant legislative reform aimed at improving the social and economic status of Hindu widows in India.