SC stays exhumation of bodies of tribal Christians for burial elsewhere

New Delhi: Supreme Court has put an interim stay on the exhumation of bodies of tribal Christians in certain Chhattisgarh villages for their relocation to the religious community's designated graveyards, as an NGO said this act violates the fundamental rights of local Christians to be buried in their villages.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta agreed on Wednesday to hear a petition by the NGO - Chhattisgarh Association for Justice and Equality - after senior advocate Colin Gonsalves cited SC's split verdict on a plea seeking burial of a pastor's body in his village or his agricultural field.

While one judge had permitted the petitioner to bury his father's body in his private land, the other judge had said no citizen had an unqualified right to choose the place of burial. After the split decision in Jan last year, the bench had directed burial of the body at a designated burial ground 25-30 km from the village in Chhattisgarh.

After hearing Gonsalves, Justices Nath and Mehta sought response from the Chhattisgarh govt to the PIL and ordered that no further exhumation of bodies would be permitted.

Gonsalves accused the state govt of misusing the split verdict to stop burial of tribal Christians at places within a village's precincts. The senior advocate said the court must intervene to direct that irrespective of religion, caste or status, every dead person has a right to burial at demarcated places in his/her village.

The petitioner said the authorities should be directed to demarcate such land for burial in those villages which do not have designated burial grounds.

Interestingly, the bench of Justices Nath and Mehta on Monday had refused to entertain a petition challenging the Oct 28, 2025 order of the Chhattisgarh high court asking the petitioners to approach statutory authority on their grievances against gram sabhas which have put up hoardings barring entry of Christian pastors and priests purportedly to prevent conversion through allurement.

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