Supreme Court On Chhindwara Rite Dispute: The Supreme Court has reserved its decision on a unique case of its kind. The case is related to a son demanding to bury his father in the graveyard of his village. The family which has filed the petition in the Supreme Court is Christian. The people of the village are opposing this saying that the village cemetery belongs to Hindu tribals. The petitioner wants to use their graveyard to disturb the communal atmosphere.
Subhash Baghel of Chhindwara village of Darbha tehsil of Bastar district of Chhattisgarh died on January 7. Due to the dispute regarding burial, his body is still in the hospital mortuary. Actually, Subhash Baghel was a Christian pastor. His entire family is also Christian. His son Ramesh Baghel says that all his ancestors are buried in the village itself, so he will bury his father there.
Villagers’ allegations
The Hindu tribals of the village are strongly opposing this. He says that the cemetery belongs to tribal Hindus. The petitioner is making such a demand to create unrest between tribal Hindus and tribal Christians.
What did the Solicitor General say?
Responding on behalf of the Chhattisgarh government in the matter, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that community rights should be given importance compared to individual rights. The administration has set up a separate graveyard for the Christians of 4 villages including Chhindwara, but the petitioner is talking about burying his father in the village itself. The bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma asked Mehta to file an affidavit giving details.
