Bastar: "Let the man have a decent burial….," ordered a Supreme Court Bench and Pastor's body was laid to rest on Monday at a Karkapal, 30 km away from the village, late in the evening. Pastor Subhash Baghel passed away on January 7 and his body was kept at the Dimarapal Hospital mortuary, Chhattisgarh, for 20 days due to a controversy over the place of burial.
Since Baghel had wished to be buried in the village graveyard after death, his family wanted to fulfill it. However, protests by villagers prevented his burial in the cemetery or even on a private land. His son, Ramesh Baghel, sought help from the district administration and later approached the Chhattisgarh High Court.
Unhappy with the HC verdict which disposed of his plea seeking burial of his father in the area specified for Christian burials in his village graveyard, Ramesh knocked the doors of the Apex Court.
An SC bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma hearing the plea of Ramesh Baghel, on January 22 had stated that the Pastor should get a decent burial and the controversy regarding his burial should end. “We want that there should be an amicable solution to this problem. We do not want to escalate it,” the bench had stated.
However, on Monday, the Bench directed the burial to take place in Karkapal and ordered the Chhattisgarh government to ensure proper burial grounds for Christian communities across the state within two months. "Following the order of the Supreme Court, the body was cremated late in the evening," said Rev. Vijay Kumar, a member of the Christian community.
"We respect the Supreme Court’s order, but it would have been good to bury a person in his own village with dignity,” said CR Baghel, a Christian community leader.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Ramesh alleged, after his father passed, they were preparing to go to the cemetery when the village Sarpanch's husband opposed their decision. "I pointed at a private land saying that we will bury my father's body there. But the Tehsildar, policemen and villagers opposed even that. I approached Jagdalpur Collector and the officials concerned but to no avail. I also appealed in the Chhattisgarh High Court at Bilaspur. But since we did not get a satisfactory answer there, I knocked the doors of the Supreme Court," said Ramesh.
