Court ensures tribal Christian gets proper burial

An Indian court had to intervene to ensure a proper burial for a tribal Christian after residents of his predominantly Hindu village objected to Christian burial in the village.

Fifty-four-year-old Isvar Korram, an indigenous Christian, died on April 25 while undergoing treatment at a hospital in central Chhattisgarh state’s Jagdalpur city, which is the headquarters of Bastar district.

But villagers from his native Chhindbahar, a remote village in the hilly, forested district, told his family not to bring back his body and bury it according to Christian rites.

“This is not the first time that indigenous Christians were denied permission to bury their dead in the region,” said Bishop Vijay Kumar Thobi of the Protestant Church.

Bastar is known as a stronghold of the Maoist rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and have been engaged in an armed insurgency for many decades.

Local church leaders said the villagers “opposed a Christian burial on the plea that it will prove a bad omen” for them.

The police also advised Korram’s family against burying the body, which was kept in a morgue at a state-run hospital in Jagdalpur.

“This time, we decided to file a case in the Bilaspur High Court [the state’s top court] seeking a direction to bury Korram in his village,” Bishop Thobi told .

The court treated it as “an urgent matter” and ordered the district collector and superintendent of police to ensure the burial of Korram in his ancestral property as per his Christian religious belief, the prelate said.

“The constitution of India includes the right of a person to have a decent burial,” Justice Rakesh Mohan Pandey noted in the order on April 27.

Korram was buried on April 28, three days after his death, on his ancestral land as there is no separate burial ground for Christians, said his son, Sartik Korram.

“We buried him as per the Christian tradition within the deadline fixed by the court,” Thobi said. “We are grateful to the court for protecting the right of a dead person.”

The Protestant bishop felt the court’s order would be an eye-opener for many who face a similar situation in Chhattisgarh.