NEW DELHI — Ramesh Baghel has become the face of a struggle for securing dignity in death for Christians across Chhattisgarh state as he prepares a new petition to the Supreme Court of India.

More than two-and-a-half months after the Supreme Court ordered the Chhattisgarh government to “demarcate exclusive sites as graveyards for burial of Christians throughout the state,” officials have taken no publicly known action to implement the directive. The court-imposed deadline of March 27 passed without compliance.

“This isn’t just about my father anymore. It is about the dignity and rights of every Christian in Chhattisgarh,” Baghel told Morning Star News. “Our community continues to face the same challenges with nowhere to bury our dead with respect. I’m approaching the Supreme Court again because we need a resolution that honors both the court’s directive and our faith.”

Baghel, who fought a three-week legal battle to bury his father, Pastor Subhash Baghel, said he’s consulting with local lawyers before approaching a Supreme Court attorney in Delhi.

The case highlights growing concerns about religious freedom in tribal regions of Chhattisgarh, where Christians face increasing hostility, social boycotts and denial of basic rights — including the right to a dignified burial according to their faith.

“The state’s inaction speaks volumes,” said Pastor Salim Hakku, an area Christian leader. “Christians in Chhattisgarh are asking for nothing more than dignity in death, a right the Supreme Court has recognized but local authorities continue to deny. This is not just bureaucratic delay; it reflects a systematic attempt to marginalize our community.”

Father denied burial

Pastor Subhash Baghel died on Jan. 7 at Baliram Kashyap Memorial Government Medical College hospital in Jagdalpur, 186 miles south of Raipur in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar District.

When Ramesh Baghel attempted to bury his father in the village graveyard in Chhindwada where the bodies of his other Christian family members had been interred, he met fierce opposition from a segment of villagers.

That evening, members of the Sarva Adivasi Samaj, including local members of the Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), went to Baghel’s residence and announced their decision to prohibit the burial in the village. When police arrived, rather than mediating the dispute, they aligned with those opposing the burial.

“What surprised me most was the police’s stance,” Baghel said. “Our own Mahar community had no issue with the burial after I explained to them that we’ve been burying our Christian dead in the designated area for decades. But after the Sarva Adivasi Samaj spoke with the authorities, the police themselves became the main obstacle.”

Despite being a Scheduled Caste family in a tribal village with constitutional protections, they found themselves abandoned by the very officials who should have protected their rights, he said.

“That’s when I realized I had no choice but to seek justice through the courts,” Baghel said.

Though at least 20 Christians had been buried in a specially designated area within the village graveyard since the mid 1980s — including Pastor Baghel’s father in 2007, sister in 2015 and two other relatives in 2013 — the village council suddenly claimed no Christian burial ground existed.

Chhindwada village has approximately 6,450 residents, about 6,000 belonging to dominant tribal communities and 450 from the Mahar community, a scheduled caste group, according to police records from Bastar. Among the Mahar community, about 100 individuals, including the Baghels, converted to Christianity many years ago.

Legal battles

After local authorities failed to respond to his pleas, Baghel filed a petition in the Chhattisgarh High Court on Jan. 8 requesting permission for his father to be buried in the village graveyard.

During the brief pendency of the petition, the village council (gram panchayat) issued a certificate claiming there was no graveyard for the Christian community anywhere within its jurisdiction. Based on this certificate, and citing concerns about potential “unrest and disharmony,” the Chhattisgarh High Court rejected Baghel’s petition on Jan. 9.

The court directed him to bury his father at a Christian cemetery about 25 miles away in Karkapal. It also closed the option of burying Pastor Baghel’s body on the family’s own private land — a stark departure from previous cases where the same court had permitted Christian burials on private property.

With all other options exhausted, Baghel approached the Supreme Court of India.

Split decision

After nearly three weeks of keeping his father’s body in a hospital mortuary, on Jan. 27 Ramesh Baghel received the Supreme Court’s verdict: a split decision (1 to 1) that effectively prevented him from burying his father in the village.

Justice B.V. Nagarathna’s opinion supported Baghel’s right to bury the body in their village. She noted that the state’s position violated Articles 21 and 14 of the Indian Constitution, representing “hostile discrimination” that “betrays the sublime principle of secularism.” Nagarathna exercised powers under Article 142 and directed that burial be conducted on Baghel’s private property.

Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, however, cited public order concerns, arguing that the appellant did not have a fundamental right to choose the burial place. Sharma also contended that “the process of earmarking designated areas for every community is not perfect,” and opted to uphold the High Court’s order directing burial at the cemetery in Karkapal.

As it was a split verdict and Pastor Baghel’s body had been in the mortuary for almost 20 days, the bench agreed to let Sharma’s opinion stand, directing the burial at the Christian cemetery 25 miles away.

Importantly, the court issued a specific directive to the state: “The respondent-State and its local authorities are directed to demarcate exclusive sites as graveyards for burial of Christians throughout the state in accordance with law. This direction is being issued in order to avoid controversies such as in the instant case. The said exercise shall be carried out within a period of two months from today.”

This clear, time-bound order from India’s highest court was meant to prevent future burial disputes and protect the rights of Christian minorities in Chhattisgarh.

Midnight burial

Following the Supreme Court’s Jan. 27 order, local administration officials and police mobilized immediately to ensure a swift burial. Witnesses report that police used an earth-moving machine to dig the grave and arranged two buses to transport Pastor Baghel’s body, family members, and a few friends to the cemetery in Karkapal, 25 miles away.

“We were left with no alternative but to bury our father at midnight,” Baghel said. “The officials insisted it happen immediately, despite our requests to wait until morning when family and friends and community members could gather, and we could perform proper Christian burial rites.”

The Rev. Bhupendra Khora, who performed the last rites along with another Christian leader, described how authorities determined to complete the burial as quickly as possible.

“We pleaded with the police and administration, explaining that Christians do not perform burials after sundown, but nobody listened,” Pastor Khora told Morning Star News. “They would have simply dumped the body and covered it with earth if we hadn’t insisted on performing proper Christian burial rituals. Even in this difficult moment, we had to fight for the minimal dignity of a proper religious service.”

Christian leaders believe authorities rushed the burial to prevent any further legal challenges before community members could approach the Supreme Court again.

The hasty midnight interment violated Christian customs and denied Pastor Baghel the respectful farewell his decades of service deserved, according to those present at the burial.

“My father dedicated 33 years of his life as a pastor, yet we couldn’t even give him a dignified farewell according to our tradition,” said Baghel.

Village divided

Despite the village council’s claim that no Christian burial ground existed in Chhindwada, local media have documented several graves in the village crematorium dating back to the 1990s and 2000s bearing cross marks on their headstones.

When confronted with this evidence, officials reportedly dismissed the significance of the crosses, claiming “tribals adopt all kinds of cultures.”

The burial dispute at Chhindwada reflects broader discrimination against Christians in the region. On Feb. 7, 2024 — just over two months after the BJP won state assembly elections in Chhattisgarh — the Chhindwada village council passed a 13-point resolution that explicitly prohibited Christians from being buried in the village crematorium.

The fifth point of this resolution specifically states that those who have “converted their culture, rites and rituals away from the village’s traditional methods, such as Christians and others, will not be permitted to bury their dead in the village graveyard.”

The same resolution imposed a comprehensive social and economic boycott of Christians. According to Baghel and other Christian residents, they are denied access to government ration shops and cannot hire laborers. Christian shop owners are prohibited from operating businesses in the village, and any violation results in a fine of 5,051 rupees (about $60 USD).

“This resolution didn’t just target our burial rights — it declared us outsiders in our own village,” Baghel told Morning Star News. “What hurts most is seeing elderly neighbors who want to offer condolences but stand at a distance, afraid of being fined. They’ve weaponized community bonds that took generations to build.”

The division in the village was evident during Pastor Baghel’s memorial service on Jan. 29. While Christians from the village and neighboring areas gathered at Baghel’s home, Hindu and other tribal neighbors were notably absent.

Christians across Bastar face harassment despite the region’s 90-year history of Christianity, which began when the first church was built in Jagdalpur in 1933. The 2011 census counts Christians as 1.98% (27,951 people) of Bastar District’s population, with a higher concentration of 9.44% in Jagdalpur city.

Reports from media and advocacy groups in February 2023 documented how mobs vandalized churches, ransacked nearly 100 homes, and forced more than 1,000 Christians from many villages in Kanker, Kondagaon and Narayanpur districts to flee after violent threats.

The Chhattisgarh High Court has repeatedly intervened in similar cases throughout the region. In April 2024, the court had to order authorities to allow a Christian woman’s burial on family-owned land in Arracote village after local opposition. Just days before Pastor Baghel’s death, a tribal village headman and his family members assaulted Kunika Kashyap, a pregnant Christian woman in Bade Bodal village, causing her to suffer a miscarriage. The attack occurred when the headman suspected she might pray with a sick relative.

The hostility has intensified in recent months. In December, right-wing groups including the Sarva Adivasi Samaj and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) held a press conference in Jagdalpur where they announced plans to campaign against alleged illegal churches in Bastar, threatening to demolish them and replace them with Hanuman temples. Christian leaders allege that tribal youth have been mobilized to prevent conversions in their villages and block pastors from visiting.

The Supreme Court directed the state to designate Christian burial grounds specifically to address this systemic issue, but as deadlines pass without action, Christians throughout Chhattisgarh continue to face uncertainty about their most basic religious rights.

“Can Christians in Chhattisgarh live with dignity and die with dignity?” Baghel asked. “The Supreme Court recognized our rights on paper, but until those rights become reality on the ground, I cannot rest. This is no longer my personal battle — it’s about justice for an entire community.”

Christian support organization Open Doors ranks India 11th on its 2025 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most severe persecution. India stood at 31st place in 2013 but has steadily fallen in the rankings since Narendra Modi came to power as prime minister.

Religious rights advocates point to the hostile tone of the National Democratic Alliance government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which they say has emboldened Hindu extremists in India since Modi took power in May 2014.
Sources:Christian Post

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