British banned practice of sati in India 188 years ago

The Bengal Sati Regulation which banned the practice of sati in British India was passed on December 4, 1829, by then Governor-General Lord William Bentinck. Sati was a practice among Hindu communities wherein a recently widowed woman, either voluntarily or by force, immolates herself on her husband's pyre. The regulation described the practice as "revolting to feelings of human nature".