In remote village of Rajasthan, a lady named Chandrawati decided to perform sati as she believed it to be a sacrosanct custom. On the day her dead husband’s pyre was being set up, she stuck to the ancient tradition and accompanied the corpse to the place of cremation. Initially, her mother-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law tried to dissuade her from performing sati. But later on, they gave in as Chandrawati was adamant and went to the cremation ground alongwith some other relatives. One of her relatives, Kalawati called up the police and informed the officers of the incident. When the police arrived at the spot, Chandrawati had already entered the pyre with her husband and all the other relatives (with the exception of kalawati) including her mother-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law were present on the scene and were chanting sacred hymns. The pandit was just about to set fire to the wood when the police stopped him.

Keeping the aforementioned facts in mind, fix the criminal liability of each of the persons present on the scene. State reasons for your answer and cite relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code. Use case law wherever required.     (15 Marks)