SC seeks Chhattisgarh’s response after Christian man claims burial of his father was stopped

The Supreme Court on Saturday asked the Chhattisgarh government to respond to a plea filed by a Christian man who claimed that he has not been allowed to bury his father’s body at a graveyard in Bastar’s Chhindawada village, PTI reported.

The man, Ramesh Baghel, has not been able to bury his father Subhash, who was a pastor, in the village graveyard after the residents objected to the burial, the news agency reported.

Subhash, a senior citizen, died on January 7 because of an illness. The body has been kept in a mortuary for 13 days now.

Baghel had moved the Chhattisgarh High Court, which rejected his plea on January 9. He then moved the Supreme Court, which asked the state government to respond to Baghel’s plea by Monday.

On Saturday, a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma said that it was surprised that the body was in a mortuary and that no action had been taken in the matter, PTI reported.

“Leave the village panchayat, even the High Court has passed a strange order,” the bench said. “What is the state government doing?”

The Supreme Court will hear the matter next on Monday.

Baghel told The Indian Express that it was his father’s last wish to be buried next to his family members.

Baghel’s grandfather had converted to...

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