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A Chhattisgarh man's body is waiting in the mortuary for a court order that will clear the roadblocks in its burial. Subhash Baghel's body is in the morgue for the past 12 days after some residents of his village in Bastar stopped his family members from burying him in the village burial ground because they had converted to Christianity.
Subhash's son Ramesh Baghel has now approached the Supreme Court, seeking permission to bury his father next to his ancestors. Hearing the matter, the bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma made strong remarks. "Why can't a person be buried where they wanted to be? The body is in mortuary? we are sorry to say that a person has to come to Supreme Court for the burial of his father. The High Court, the panchayat etc are not able to solve the problem. The High Court says there will be a law and order problem. We are pained at this," Justice Nagarathna said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said he did not have anything to say if the matter was to be decided solely on emotions, but if not, it can be argued. Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner, said the real reason for refusing burial was because the tribal family converted to Christianity.
The Solicitor General said this was the beginning of a "movement" and warned that it may lead to disturbance between tribal Hindus and tribal Christians.
"Intention may be to make this a precedent for rest of country. There is burial ground for tribals who are not Christians. Though they are not Christians, they bury their dead. Just 20 km away there is a Christian burial ground. This ground is a Hindu tribal burial ground," he said.
When Justice Nagarathna asked if burial could take place on private land, Mr Mehta replied, "Once you bury or cremate someone on private land, the character of land changes, it becomes a sacred place and it also has health issues. That is not permitted."
Mr Gonsalves said Subhash Baghel's father and others from his family were buried in the same land. When Mr Mehta said, "they were not converted, Mr Gonsalves replied, "Please see the picture of the graveyard. My father, aunt all have cross on their graves. We have a special place in that burial ground." The Solicitor General said the state government is ready to provide an ambulance to shift the body to the Christian burial ground. Mr Gonsalves said, "I don't want to go outside the village... I don't want your ambulance. I don't want to be treated like an untouchable just because I converted." To this, Mr Mehta said, "Everyone has converted. All Christians have converted. No one is an original Christian here! Why are you getting agitated?"
When Mr Mehta repeated that this was the beginning of a movement, Mr Gonsalves said, "Yes, the beginning of a movement to kick Christians out."
The court asked why the villagers were objecting to Subhash Baghel's burial if the others in his family were buried there. Mr Gonsalves replied, "Now they are trying to create a precedent where they are saying if you convert you will have to go out of the village. This is a dangerous one." When Justice Nagarathna said the body cannot be kept in the mortuary anymore, Mr Mehta urged the bench not to decide the matter in haste. "We cannot allow this to become a movement, we cannot allow this to happen. It is not just about this individual death."
The Solicitor General sought time to provide a better counter. The court will hear the matter next on Wednesday.