New Delhi
In a significant interim relief, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed that no further exhumation of bodies of tribal Christians buried in villages across Chhattisgarh shall take place until further orders. The Court also issued notice to the State government, seeking its response to serious allegations of forced reburials and denial of burial rights to members of the tribal Christian community.
The order was passed by a Bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria while hearing a public interest litigation. “Issue notice returnable in 4 weeks. In the meantime, no further exhumation of buried bodies shall be permitted,” the Court ordered.
The petition has been filed by the Chhattisgarh Association for Justice and Equality, along with pastors, social activists, a doctor and three residents of the State. The petitioners allege that the corpses of their family members were forcibly dug up from village burial grounds and relocated elsewhere, often without their knowledge or consent.
Appearing on behalf of the petitioners, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves submitted that Christian families in several tribal villages were being prevented from burying their deceased relatives in common village graveyards, even though members of other communities were permitted to do so. “The dead bodies are exhumed without consent and taken away to be buried in undisclosed locations,” Gonsalves told the Bench.
According to the plea, the incidents are not isolated but form a recurring pattern across districts in southern Chhattisgarh, particularly in tribal areas. The petition recounts instances where bodies were dug up after burial and removed without the consent of grieving families.
In one case, the body of the mother of a petitioner was allegedly exhumed and reburied elsewhere without his knowledge. In another, the body of a petitioner’s husband was reportedly dug up by members of the majority community and reburied at a distant site.
“Exhumation and forced reburial of bodies at distant places, sometimes more than 50 kms away, constitutes cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of the deceased and their families, which is impermissible under Articles 14 and 21,” the plea stated.
The petition has been filed under Article 32 of the Constitution and contends that the actions violate fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 21 and 25, including equality before the law, the right to life with dignity, and freedom of religion.
“This writ petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution is in respect of tribal Christians who are forcibly being prevented from burying their deceased in the burial places within the boundaries of their villages as is done for all other communities,” the petition stated.
It further alleged that burial grounds traditionally used by all villagers are being informally restricted to specific religious groups, with Christian families excluded. In several instances, families were allegedly pressured to abandon Christian burial practices and follow majority religious customs as a condition for burial within the village.
The plea also raised concerns about the conduct of local authorities, particularly the police. It alleged that officers frequently failed to protect families facing threats and instead encouraged compromise.
“The role of the Chhattisgarh police is very communal… While in many cases there was the possibility of peaceful burial in the village itself as per the tradition followed for generations, the body was forcibly taken out of the villages to a so-called designated place by the police and administrations,” the petition said.
It further claimed that several pastors who conducted burial rites at the request of families were arrested.
“Many of the pastors who buried the bodies in the village on the request of the families of the deceased were arrested and sent to police lock up and thereafter to jail,” the plea stated.
Describing the scale of hostility, the petition referred to an incident in Benur village in Bastar district. “Benur is a residential village in Bastar, Chhattisgarh. The hostility towards tribal Christians there is so extreme that, in a highly communal atmosphere, villagers exhumed the body of a Christian man who had been buried in the common graveyard for over twenty years. By then reduced to a skeleton, the remains were burnt to ashes and scattered with the deliberate intention of desecrating them and sending a threatening message to the Christian community,” it said.
The petition seeks directions restraining State authorities and private individuals from interfering with burials in native villages. It asks the Court to declare that all individuals, irrespective of religion, caste, or tribal status, are entitled to burial within the village where they resided, in the same manner as other communities.
Additionally, it urges the Court to direct gram panchayats across the State to clearly demarcate burial grounds accessible to all communities without discrimination, and to promote common graveyards in the interest of secularism, equality and fraternity.
The matter will now be taken up after the State government files its response within four weeks.
