Relatives arrested after sati death

New Delhi: Police have arrested seven relatives of a 75-year-old widow for doing nothing to prevent the woman from killing herself by jumping into her husband's funeral pyre.

Her three sons, their wives and her daughter were arrested under the Prevention of Sati Act, and face possible capital punishment or life in prison

The practice of sati, in which a woman burns herself to death on her husband's pyre, began in medieval times when Hindu women chose to kill themselves after their husbands died in battle. Sati was banned in 1829.