Denying burial space to Christians is a growing new trend in India

Refusing burial space to Christians has become a new trend in villages in central and eastern India to pressure Christians into abandoning their faith and to discourage others from associating with missionaries, say Christian leaders.

“Christians, irrespective of any denomination, are aware of repeated cases of denial of burial space to tribal Christians in their own villages. It has become a trend now and a serious concern,” Archbishop Victor Thakur of Raipur told UCA News on May 22.

The latest reported case was that of Ankalu Ram Potai, who died on May 13 in the village of Havechur, in Chhattisgarh state’s Kanker district. Reports said villagers opposed his burial in the local graveyard because he was a Christian.

Potai, who was 55 years old, had converted to Christianity a few decades ago, which upset the Hindu villagers. They kept watch outside the dead man’s home throughout the night on May 13 to prevent his relatives from burying him in the darkness, local media reported.
In the last two years, Chhattisgarh and Odisha states alone have reported at least 25 cases of Hindu villagers refusing to bury Christians because of their faith, Christian leaders say.

According to Christian activist Arun Pannalal, Chhattisgarh has reported at least 15 such cases since 2023.

“It is aimed at forcing people to abandon their Christian faith,” he told UCA News.

Odisha reported at least 10 cases in the past year, according to rights activist Father Ajay Singh of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar archdiocese.

“These cases might look isolated. But they are not. It is part of a clear plan and strategy by radical Hindu forces to isolate and threaten Christians socially and keep villagers from even considering associating with Christians and missionaries,” he told UCA News.

Christian leaders need to consider ways to counter this violation, Thakur said.

“We [Christians] need to set aside our differences, unite, sit together, and start a dialogue among ourselves if we want to address this issue,” the archbishop said.

Thakur said those behind this trend are “some of the political parties and anti-social elements who want to rule the country by the divide and rule method.”

Once burial is denied, Christians typically take their dead to a Christian cemetery, which is often more than 80 to 100 kilometers away, said Thakur, who is based in the Chhattisgarh state capital Raipur.

Earlier this year, the intervention of India’s Supreme Court did not help restore Christians’ right to bury their dead in their village cemetery or on their own private land.

One notable case reached the Supreme Court in January when burial was denied to Subhash Baghel, a Christian pastor who died on Jan. 7 in a tribal village in Chhindwada, located in Chhattisgarh state’s Bastar district.

His son approached the court after the local administration and courts supported the villagers, citing concerns over “public order.”

In what was a split ruling, the two-judge bench, led by Justice S.C. Sharma, noted that the “public order” concern was not a “ruse” and directed Subhash to be buried in a Christian burial ground in a different village.

The other judge, Justice B.V. Nagarathna, stated that the villagers’ objection was “nothing but a violation” of the constitution’s guarantees of equality before the law and the prohibition of discrimination based on religion, caste, race, and sex.

She directed that Subhash be buried on the family’s private farmland in Chhindwada itself.

However, following continued opposition from villagers, the family took the body to a Christian cemetery in Charama, some 85 kilometers from their village, on Jan. 27, almost three weeks after Subhash died.
Pannalal, president of Chhattisgarh’s Christian Forum, told UCA News on May 22 that his organization has already reached out to tribal groups, both Christians and others.

“They need to understand that the actual problem is outsiders trying to divide them for political gain.

“Tribal villagers are illiterate and poor. Some political parties and sectarian groups take advantage of the situation and divide people in the name of caste, creed, and religion. No political parties have actually addressed the real problem, which is the socio-economic poverty of the people,” he said.

Since the state was carved out of Madhya Pradesh state in 2000, purportedly to focus on the advancement of tribal communities, successive governments have hardly done anything for tribal people, according to activists and civic leaders like Pannalal.

The Hindu-leaning Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has run the government since the state’s formation, except for a five-year term (2018-2023) when its rival, the Congress party, was in control.

“It is disturbing and worrisome that tribal people are exploited by some vested interest people in the name of religion. For political reasons, religious identity is pushed ahead of everything, creating social problems,” Pannalal said.

He said both “religious leaders and civil society should step forward to solve the problem by initiating the dialogue before it is too late.”

Father Singh of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar archdiocese said the situation in Odisha is not very different. “Violence and harassment against Christians have increased” after the BJP came to power in the state in June 2024.

On March 2, 2025, a fact-finding team reported a unique case in Siunaguda, a village in Odisha’s Nabarangpur district, where four Christians were forced to convert to Hinduism to bury a family member. The village had only three Christian families among 30 Hindu ones.

Singh, a member of the fact-finding team, said the Christian villagers also face other forms of harassment besides the denial of burials. These include denial of religious functions, intimidation, and social ostracism in the village, he said.

He said the team’s report, published on May 14, details “gross violations of fundamental, constitutional and human rights of the most vulnerable communities of tribals, Dalit and religious minorities.”

With such harassment, Indian laws are violated, including equality before the law and the right to freedom of expression, thought, belief, and association.

“More importantly, the right to life and a dignified burial have also now been violated,” the priest said.

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