Raipur: In yet another incident which reflects the growing discomfort between Hindus and the Christian community over burials of dead ones in Bastar, a man from Chhindwara village on Monday, January 20 moves to the apex court, seeking permission to bury his deceased father within the village graveyard.
The petitioner identified as Ramesh Baghel, approached the apex court seeking permission to bury his deceased father Subhas, a former pastor and a resident of Chhindawada village of Bastar after the Bilaspur high court on January 9 turned down his plea on the basis of a submission made by the Gram Panchayat stating no seperate burial ground for Christians in the village.
The court turned down the request, underlining that the same could cause unrest and disharmony in public at large. Baghel however via his counsel challenged the high court order in apex court on Monday.
Hearing on the petition, an apex court’s bench while expressing its dismay over the high court’s remarks said that they are sorry that a man has to come to the Supreme Court for this, as neither the Panchayat, nor the state government or the high court was able to resolve the issue.
Appearing for the state government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta earlier informed the bench that there was no burial ground for Christians in the village and the man could be buried around 20km away from the village.
Baghel’s counsel Collin Gonsalves however, said the affidavit submitted by the state showed his family members were also buried in the village and the deceased was not being allowed the burial as he was a Christian.
Replying to which Mehta argued that the petitioner was adamant to bury his father in the burial ground of his family’s native village to create unrest between tribal Hindus and tribal Christians. He further requested the court for time to argue the matter in detail, after which the bench scheduled the hearing for Wednesday.
A dispute erupted in Chhindawada village after a group of villagers objected to the burial of pastor Subhash, citing no Christian graveyard in the village. The deceased son then reportedly approached the police however no amicable solution was agreed upon. The deceased body was then shifted to a morgue on January 7.
Baghel then approached the high court, stating that the village had a graveyard in which a specific area was verbally allotted to the members of the Christian community for burial purposes. Though the high court’s bench turned down his request after a certificate of the Gram Panchayat stated that there was no separate burial grounds for the Christians in the village.
Disputes over burials in Bastar
It is noteworthy that this is not the only time that tension has gripped the interiors of the tribal dominated Bastar over burials of dead ones and similar cases have also grabbed headlines in the past as well.
In a similar case reported by Organiser, a section of villagers raised serious objection over the burial of a Christian lady in the Errabota village under Parpa police station limits of Tokpal in June last year.
The family members of the deceased lady, Pando Kashyap tried to bury her within the boundaries of village after her demise however their attempts met with a strong resistance from the other sections of the villagers who opposed the burial within the village limits, citing Pando’s religious beliefs.
Those opposing the burial of Pando within the village opined that Pando should be cremated in a Christian crematorium as she was following the Christian religion and the village does not have a Christian crematorium.
The confrontation between the two groups led the deceased’s son Ramlal approaching the court for allowing the cremation within the village limits hearing on which the court agreed and instructed the administration to make adequate security arrangements. Pando was eventually buried amidst tighten security.
Organiser reported a similar incident in March 2023 where clashes occurred between the two groups over a similar dispute in Bhejipadar village of Bastar. According to the reports, an initial altercation occurred between the Hindus and Christian group soon turned violent after the latter group attempted to bury a deceased lady of their community within the village limits.
A few policemen along with a number of villagers had sustained injuries after the said clashes, leading to heavy deployment of security personnel in the village. Later on both groups agreed to an amicable solution and the deceased was eventually buried in a private land within the village limits.
It must be noted that incidents pertaining to scuffle over illegal conversion and conversion-born disputes have been keep coming to the fore from the tribal dominated pockets of Bastar, underscoring the growing discomfort between the Hindus and the converted Christians over traditional practices, festivals and burial of dead ones.
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