Objection to Christian’s burial leads to clashes in India’s Chhattisgarh

Clashes broke out in a remote village in central India’s Chhattisgarh state after local tribal people objected to the burial of a Christian indigenous man, saying it violated their traditional customs and norms.

At least 20 people, including a senior police official, were injured as the Christians and those opposing the burial clashed in Tevda, a village in the Amabeda area of Kanker district on Dec. 18, officials said.

Tensions began to simmer after news spread in the village about the burial of Charan Ram Salaam, who died on Dec. 16. Members of the tribal community objected to the Christian funeral held by Salaam’s family, followed by the burial on their private land.

The Salaam family had embraced Christianity years ago, but their fellow villagers protested and demanded that the body be exhumed. An executive magistrate with administrative and preventive powers under criminal law ordered the exhumation of the body, citing a law and order problem.

This triggered clashes between groups of villagers divided by faith, and police struggled to maintain calm. Authorities later declared a curfew and sealed off the village to prevent the entry of outsiders and further escalation of violence.

The situation is very tense in Kanker district following the attack on Christians, said Kamal Kujur, president of the Rashtriya Christian Morcha (national Christian forum).

He said that two churches were burned down by groups of tribal people, citing local sources, while some media reports said two Hindu temples were damaged.

The claims could not be independently verified. Authorities confirmed several properties were damaged during the unrest, but did not specifically mention worship places.

Kujur said the situation turned violent when some villagers attempted to remove the body from the grave, leading to a confrontation with members of the Christian community.

Stones and sticks were used, leaving several villagers and police personnel injured, he told UCA News on Dec. 22.

Kujur said Christians in Kanker district are worried as they are preparing to celebrate Christmas and New Year.

The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), an alliance of Indian evangelical and Protestant Christians, said the unfolding situation has moved far beyond a local dispute.

It warned that the situation poses serious questions about public order and citizen safety, and whether vulnerable communities can live without fear.

The EFI, in a letter to the Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, sought his urgent intervention to restore peace in the village and uphold the constitutional guarantees of life, dignity, and freedom of belief.

It further urged the state government to ensure that Christians can celebrate Christmas and New Year peacefully, without intimidation, disruption, or targeted hostility.

Binay Lakra, a Christian activist based in the state capital Raipur, said that things may get out of control unless the government takes immediate steps to stop the attacks on Christians.

Chhattisgarh, which is ruled by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, is considered a hotbed of Christian persecution with sustained campaigns including violent attacks against Christians and their institutions.

In recent months, 14 villages in Kanker district have imposed informal bans on the entry of pastors and priests, citing protection of local tribal traditions and people from conversion activities.

In October this year, an indigenous Christian family of four, including two children, was forced to flee their village in Sukma district for refusing to give up their faith amid threats and violence by a hardline Hindu mob.

In December 2022, over 1,000 indigenous Christians in Narayanpur and Kondagaon districts, including pregnant women, children, and the elderly, were forced to flee from their villages following violent attacks by Hindu groups.

Many had to escape to the forests in the cold winter due to the social isolation imposed on them.

Christians are often denied water, groceries, and even access to burial sites in their ancestral villages where their forefathers and other relatives were buried.

The state reported 165 anti-Christian incidents last year, the second highest in the country, according to data from the New Delhi-based ecumenical organization, United Christian Forum.

A report by EFI’s Religious Liberty Commission said that between January and July this year, the state saw 86 cases of systematic targeting of Christians.

Christians comprise less than 2 percent of Chhattisgarh’s 30 million people.