The Supreme Courtroom has issued discover to the Chhattisgarh authorities concerning a Christian pastor’s physique that has remained in a mortuary since 7 January, after villagers and native authorities prevented his burial in his house village.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma expressed shock upon studying that the deceased’s physique has been stored on the district hospital and medical school mortuary in Jagdalpur for practically two weeks, with no motion taken by the authorities.
“Depart the village panchayat, even the excessive courtroom has handed an odd order. What’s the state authorities doing?” the bench remarked whereas listening to the case.
The matter got here to gentle via a petition filed by Ramesh Baghel, represented by Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, who has been unable to carry out his father’s final rites of their village of Chhindawada. Based on the petition, when Baghel tried to bury his father within the village graveyard’s Christian part, the place his aunt Shanti Baghel and grandfather Lakheshwar Baghel had been beforehand interred, villagers strongly opposed the burial and threatened violence.
The objecting villagers, recognized as Tundul, Shankar, Sukhram, Deviram, Mahesh, Vinod and Mangtu (husband of the incumbent Sarpanch), threatened dire penalties if the burial proceeded.
The scenario escalated to the purpose the place 30-35 police personnel had been deployed to the village. Nonetheless, as a substitute of facilitating the burial, the police allegedly pressured the household to take away the physique from the village and threatened authorized motion in the event that they proceeded with Christian burial rites.
Baghel initially sought aid from the Chhattisgarh Excessive Courtroom. On 9 January, Justice Bibhu Datta Guru dismissed his plea, citing a certificates from the village sarpanch that said there have been no separate burial grounds for Christians within the village. The Excessive Courtroom instructed that the burial may happen in Karkapal village, situated 20-25 kilometres away, the place a Christian burial floor exists.
The Excessive Courtroom’s order famous that allowing the burial in Chhindawada “could trigger unrest and disharmony within the public at giant.”
The deceased, Subhash Baghel, had served as a pastor since 1986-87, main prayers on the village church. Based on courtroom data, Chhindawada village has a inhabitants of 2000-2500, with roughly 750 people belonging to the Mahra neighborhood and about 200-250 Christian residents.
Writing for The Leaflet, Advocate Ajay Kumar, who practices earlier than the Karnataka Excessive Courtroom, criticised the Excessive Courtroom’s resolution: “When the frequent graveyard clearly has been used to bury Christians previously within the designated space, the certificates from the gram panchayat would quantity to the gram panchayat altering the established order.”
Kumar additional famous that “the police, as a substitute of defending the petitioner right here, threatened him with authorized motion and pressured him to surrender his rights. Sure, there was a violent incident, however that doesn’t imply the state abdicates its responsibility to make sure the safety of elementary rights.”
Based on the petition, the village graveyard has historically been divided informally by the gram panchayat into separate areas for various communities, together with tribals, Hindus, and Christians. The villagers haven’t solely opposed burial locally graveyard however have additionally prevented the household from utilizing their personal land for burial.
“They’ve additionally threatened that if the useless physique is buried as per Christian rites of their village, they’ll take authorized motion towards the petitioner and his household,” the plea said.
The Supreme Courtroom will hear the matter on 20 January, with Mr. Prashant Singh accepting discover for the respondents.
“This isn’t the primary time that Christians have been handled this fashion,” mentioned Salim Hakku, a Christian chief from Jagdalpur. “On December 29, 2024, when a 90-year-old Christian girl was buried on personal property in village Bade Bodal, district Bastar, the village headman objected to the burial and verbally abused the Christians, resulting in a scuffle between the headman’s supporters and the Christian neighborhood.”
With excessive hopes from the pending Supreme Courtroom resolution concerning Pastor Baghel’s burial, Hakku mentioned, “We’re hopeful that it will carry aid to the Christian neighborhood and we will put our useless to relaxation peacefully.”
