Two Christians denied burial over faith in eastern Indian villages

Two tribal Christian women were denied burial in village cemeteries in India’s Odisha state after local Hindu residents allegedly demanded their families renounce Christianity — a coercive practice church leaders say is on the rise.

On April 13, villagers in Dumarmonda in Nabarangpur district prevented the Pentecostal Christian family of Raymoti Gond, 65, from burying her in the common cemetery unless they agreed to abandon Christianity.

In a similar incident, the same day in Undri village, also in Nabarangpur, Hindu residents stopped the Pentecostal family of Monika Santa, 50, from conducting her burial unless they provided a written assurance that they would return to their original Hindu faith.

Following complaints from Christian groups, district authorities and police held meetings with villagers. The families were eventually allowed to bury their dead on their own farmland on April 15, but not in the common cemetery, said Gourab Kauri, secretary of the Nabarangpur Christian Minority Council.

Kauri told UCA News that local Hindus opposed Christian burials in common cemeteries out of concern that it could encourage more tribal people to convert to Christianity.

Christians remain a small minority in these villages. In Dumarmonda, for instance, only eight families — all Pentecostal — are Christian in an otherwise Hindu-majority community. Similarly, in Undri village, nine Christian families belonging to the Blessing Youth Mission Church live among about 130 Hindu families.

“We were worried the body would start decomposing. We were allowed to bury Monika Santa only on the third day,” her relative, Dhana Santa, told UCA News.

The incidents are the latest in a series reported from Odisha’s tribal-dominated districts of Nabarangpur, Koraput, and Malkangiri, where Christian leaders say burials are being obstructed to pressure families into renouncing their faith.

“A disturbing pattern of burial blackmail has gripped several areas of Nabarangpur district,” said Bishop Pallab Lima of the United Believers Council Network of India, an ecumenical body.

He said Hindu hardliners were effectively holding the deceased “hostage” to prevent grieving families from performing final rites unless they gave up their Christian faith.

Ismail Patro, general secretary of the National Christian Front, said discrimination against Christians has intensified since the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assumed power in Odisha in 2024.

“Trading burial for a change of faith is a blatant attack on constitutional rights,” Patro said, noting that India guarantees freedom of religion.

“Burial is the final public expression of a person’s life and faith. Obstructing it is not merely a social conflict but a violation of fundamental human rights,” Bishop Lima added.

This article was originally published on https://www.ucanews.com/news/two-christians-denied-burial-over-faith-in-eastern-indian-villages/112848