In a chilling display of communal intolerance, Christian families in Chhattisgarh were denied the right to bury their loved ones in their native villages, forcing them to seek distant graveyards amid police helplessness and villager blockades, the Indian Express reported.

The incidents, occurring within days of each other in November, have ignited severe criticism from rights groups, who condemn them as conspicuous violations of constitutional freedoms and symptoms of increasing anti-Christian hostility in the tribal heartland.

The administration intervened but reportedly was unable to provide any “justifiable relief” or assistance to the distressed family.

Raman Sahu, a 50-year-old resident of Jewartala village in Balod district — about 60 miles from the state capital Raipur — succumbed to illness at a private hospital on Nov. 8.

His family, who had converted to Christianity several years ago, brought his body home for a dignified burial according to their faith.

However, upon the arrival, villagers reportedly physically obstructed and vandalized the procession, insisting that the last rites could only proceed and be completed under the community’s traditional Hindu rituals.

Tensions widened, prompting the deployment of police forces to prevent violent incidents. However, negotiations dragged on for hours.

District authorities failed to solve the matter by convincing the local villagers.

With the body kept in a funeral home overnight, the family was ultimately compelled to inter Sahu on Nov. 10 at the Sankra burial ground, several miles away.

Balod District Police Chief Yogesh Patel later confirmed to the newspaper that the denial originated solely from the family’s conversion to Christianity, with villagers remaining “adamant” despite the administration’s pleas.

Arun Pannalal, president of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, condemned the denial of burial as a violation of constitutional rights, accusing authorities of inaction before mobs instigated by certain groups.

“The Christians are being blatantly denied their constitutional right of dignified burial at their native places, while the authorities were largely seen as helpless before the mob,” said Arun Pannalal, president of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum.

He invoked Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, which safeguards against incitement to discrimination or hostility. He accused unnamed people of stirring up the unrest.

This tragedy unfolded just a few days after a similar incident in Kodekurse village in Kanker district. Manoj Nishad, a 50-year-old who had embraced Christianity a few months earlier, died during treatment on Nov. 5 in Raipur.

His family wanted to bury him on their private land within the village limits. However, the village residents blocked access, declaring that converts who “abandon the traditional faith” — who leave the old traditional religion and become Christian — no longer have the right to be buried in the village.

For three days, the body was shuttled from village to village in search of a site, with Hindu organizations reportedly intervening to halt proceedings.

Protests erupted at the local police station, where the Christian community demanded intervention, but officers cited the villagers’ stance as unchallengeable under tribal customs.

Villagers in Kodekurse even floated a grim condition: if the family renounced Christianity and reconverted, burial would be permitted.

Ultimately, the body was transported back to Raipur, where it remained unburied until the family secured a spot far from home.

“This isn’t just grief; it’s a chilling reminder of rising communal hate targeting minorities,” activist Vignesh Dadi tweeted, amplifying the story to highlight the pattern of exclusion.

Ramesh Baghel is a third-generation Christian from the New Apostolic Church. For many years, his family has lived in their ancestral village of Chhindwada, home to 6,450 people, mostly tribal people. In the village, 450 belong to the Mahra community — 350 are Hindu, and 100 are Christian.

When his father, Pastor Baghel, died on Jan. 7 after a long illness, the villagers opposed his burial, according to ABC News.

An affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court of India by the Additional Superintendent of Police from Bastar emphasized that birth, marriage, and death ceremonies should adhere to traditional customs.

It said that “any person who has forsworn the tradition of the community or has converted into a Christian is not allowed to be buried at the village graveyard.”

The affidavit acknowledged that disputes between Christians and tribal people had increased in recent years.

From Burials to Broader Persecution

These cases are not isolated but part of a disturbing surge in anti-Christian incidents across Chhattisgarh, particularly in Adivasi (indigenous) belts like Bastar, Kanker, and Balod.

In May 2025, a Christian woman in Sanaud village endured an eight-hour blockade at a public burial ground, provoked by a Hindutva-aligned sarpanch (village head), who denied her burial at the public Muktidham, or burial ground.

Despite the presence of police and the sub-divisional magistrate, villagers refused. Later, the family buried her 19 miles away in Dhamtari.

These systematic denials of burial rights are recurring events that persist across various villages in Chhattisgarh, with more than 350 such incidents reported in Bastar District.

These exclusionary practices have, in fact, been reinforced by weaponizing the state institutions and legislative enactments against minorities.

The most high-profile precedent came in January 2025, when the Supreme Court issued a split verdict in the case of Pastor Subhash Baghel, a Dalit Christian from Chhindawada village in Bastar. Denied village burial by a tribal gram sabha resolution barring converts, Baghel’s body lay in a mortuary for three weeks.

The court ultimately ordered interment at a designated Christian cemetery about 15 miles away, underscoring the judiciary’s struggle to balance tribal autonomy under the Fifth Schedule with religious freedoms.

Human rights advocates link these denials to entrenched social ostracism.

“Even the dead deserve dignity,” noted a post from the Indian American Muslim Council, echoing widespread online fury.

Christian Post reported that such exclusions extend beyond burials, with more than 400 villagers from more than 20 villages, from Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district, gathered on Oct. 5, deciding to strip Christians of their burial rights, including access to common lands. They also addressed concerns that conversions to Christianity would affect their cultural identity and traditions.

Anti-Conversion Laws and Political Tensions

Nearly 2% of Chhattisgarh’s population is Christian. These are mostly Adivasis (tribal) communities.

Since 2023, tensions between religious groups have increased, especially after the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power.

The state inherited the Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act, 2006 — an anti-conversion law imposing up to four years of imprisonment for “forced” conversions, especially of minors, women, or Scheduled Tribes. Some expect the law will prevent some Christians from sharing the gospel with their Hindu neighbors.

In 2025, Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma announced plans for a “stricter” version.

“Now, anyone who wants to convert from one religion to another must submit a 60-day prior notice before doing so,” Sharma said. “Moreover, the gatherings known as “changai sabhas,” where the religious and faith healers present miracles to attract the tribal people, will be banned.”

Critics argue that these rules, copied from the strict laws in Uttar Pradesh, encourage people to take the law into their own hands. They do this by saying Christianity is a danger and framing Christianity as a “threat” to Hindu-tribal identity.

From January to July 2025, the Evangelical Fellowship of India’s Religious Liberty Commission (EFIRLC) documented 334 verifiable incidents of violence, harassment, and discrimination.

Incidents of violence against Christian individuals and institutions have grown fivefold during the past decade, from 127 cases in 2014 to 834 in 2024.

The United Christian Forum (UCF), which runs a national helpline, had reported 579 incidents by September. However, with reportedly only 39 resulting in police cases, a 93% gap in justice.

As per reports, in September 2025, Raipur authorities banned more than 200 house churches to “maintain harmony,” following complaints of conversions.

Open Doors, a global persecution watchdog, warns that these policies worsen divisions between ethnic and religious groups. They make Adivasi Christians look like “outsiders,” even though they are indigenous people with deep roots in the land.

Calls for Justice

Adivasi Christians reportedly often convert to seek escape from caste-like hierarchies within Hinduism. But they face double trouble: people call them “rice Christians,” accusing them of changing faith just for money or gifts.

Akash Poyam, an Adivasi journalist, reported in The Caravan how colonial-era divisions between “animist” tribals and Christians persist, now weaponized by Hindutva ideology to reclaim converts.

Arun Pannalal, the president of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum (CGCF), a group supporting persecuted Christians in Chhattisgarh, India, called on the central government for help.

“Authorities must protect the special lands set aside for Christian burials and punish those who block them using anti-discrimination laws,” he said.

Groups like Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) asked India’s National Human Rights Commission to investigate. They call this a huge failure by local officials.

Story by Zaid Malik, a Delhi-based independent journalist

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