On this day the Privy Council in London upheld the ban on sati. The practice had been abolished in India after a campaign led by Raja Rammohan Roy on December 4, 1829, by Governor-General William Bentinck.
But orthodox Hindu leaders of Bengali society had opposed the ban and had sent a petition to London against the regulation banning sati. Roy, who was in England in 1832, had written a counter-petition and submitted it to the House of Commons. The petition against the abolition of sati was rejected by the Privy Council, which announced its decision on July 11, 1832.
To celebrate the decision, a meeting was held on November 10, 1832, in Calcutta by the reformists. Dwarkanath Tagore presided over the meeting and the participants decided to send letters to the British King, the Privy Council, the court of directors and Roy.
The practice, however, did not disappear immediately.
