New Delhi: The Supreme Court on January 20 said that it is pained to see that a man from Chhattisgarh had to come to the Supreme Court with a plea to bury his father, who was a Christian pastor, in the Chindwara village graveyard as the state and the high court couldn’t resolve the issue.
The petitioner in the case is a tribal Christian and his father passed away on January 7 due to prolonged illness. However, when the family tried to bury him at their village graveyard meant for Christians, some villagers aggressively objected to it and threatened the family with dire consequences, says the special leave petition in the Supreme Court, reported LiveLaw.
The petition says that when the family sought help from the police, the cops exerted pressure on them to take the body out of the village, as a result of which the body has been kept in a mortuary since January 7.
After the matter reached the high court, it had observed that while no separate burial ground is available for the Christians in Chhindawala village, a separate burial ground was available in another village around 20-25 kilometres away.
“Considering the fact that burial ground/graveyard of Christian community is available in nearby area, it will not be proper to grant relief as sought for by petitioner in this writ petition, which may cause unrest and disharmony in the public at large,” the high court had said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the State said that the body could be buried at the State’s expense but 20 km outside the village where there is a burial ground for Christians. The burial ground in the petitioner’s village is only for Hindu tribals as per their rituals.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who represented the petitioner alleged that the State is “trying to break the tradition of secularism.”
“Mr. Solicitor, we are very sorry a man has to come to the Supreme Court to have his father [buried]. We are sorry to say, neither the Panchayat nor the State Government and either the High Court has [been] able to resolve this problem. And the High Court taking shelter and saying there would be law and order problem. We are pained by that. If the [High] Court and the State cannot resolve such a matter..We are pained for this person had to come to the Supreme Court to get his father buried,” said Justice B.V. Nagarathna while hearing the case.
