SC stays exhumation of bodies of tribal Christians for burial elsewhere | India News
New Delhi: Supreme Court An NGO said the law violated the fundamental right of local Christians to be buried in their villages, giving an interim moratorium on shifting the bodies of tribal Christians in certain villages of Chhattisgarh to cemeteries designated by their religious communities. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta on Wednesday agreed to hear a petition by NGO – Chhattisgarh Association for Justice and Equality – after senior advocate Colin Gonsalves referred to the SC’s split verdict on a plea to bury the dead body of a priest in his village or his farmland. While one judge allowed the petitioner to bury his father’s body on his private land, another judge said that no citizen has an unalienable right to choose a burial place. After a split decision in January last year, the bench ordered the body to be buried at a designated burial ground 25-30 km from the village in Chhattisgarh. After hearing Gonsalves, Justices Nath and Mehta sought a response to the PIL from the Chhattisgarh government and ordered that no further exhumation of bodies be allowed.Gonsalves accused the state government of abusing the split verdict to stop the burial of tribal Christians at a site around a village. The senior lawyer said the court should direct that every dead person, irrespective of religion, caste or status, has the right to be buried in the designated place of his village.The petitioner said that the authorities should be directed to bury the lands which are not earmarked for burial in all the villages.Interestingly, a bench of Justices Nath and Mehta on Monday refused to entertain a petition challenging the Chhattisgarh High Court’s October 28, 2025 order asking the petitioners to approach the statutory authority regarding their complaint against the Gram Sabha that put up hoardings barring the entry of Christian priests.
