The sati Pratha was declared illegal during the time of Governor General ______________
(A) William Bentinck
(B) Dalhousie
(C) canning
(D) Cornwallis

Hint A regulation act was passed to ban the practice of Sati or the burning alive of widows in the year 1829. It was declared illegal and thereby was made a punishable offense by the Criminal Court of India.

Complete step by step answer Now that we have come a long way we no longer believe in such rituals which cause harm to human life but earlier it was not the case. During that era, women were not given any important status and were merely dependent on their fathers and husbands. It was seen then that when the husband died, his wife was made to sit on his funeral pyre and was burnt alive. It was believed that if the husband dies the wife also has to sacrifice her life to prove her loyalty and sincerity towards him. At the initial stages, the East India company tolerated these practices to expand its rule but eventually, they realized that it was an inhuman act and needed to be stopped. The Indian activist Ram Mohan Roy along with other Christian activists made the then Governor General Lord William Bentinck pass the Bengal sati regulation,1829 which made sati a punishable offense.

So the correct answer is (A) William Bentinck. The sati Pratha was declared illegal during the time of Governor General William Bentinck.

Note After the Sati regulation act, an act on widow remarriage also came along with the Age consent act,1891 and Infanticide Prevention act,1870.