NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Monday witnessed heated exchange of words between solicitor general Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Colin Gonsalves over the burial of a Christian man from a Scheduled Tribe (ST) community in Chhattisgarh and the court also expressed its pain that a man had to move to top court to bury his father.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma was hearing a plea filed by Ramesh Baghel who moved SC against the Chhattisgarh HC order refusing to allow him to bury his father in his native village.
Opposing the plea, the SG said that petitioner’s insistence to bury the man in the burial ground of his family’s native village was an attempt to create unrest between tribal Hindus and Christians. Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner, countered saying that it was an attempt to kick out tribal Christians.
Amidst heated exchange, the court said, “Why should a person who has lived in a particular village be not buried in that village? The body is lying in the morgue since January 7. Sorry to say that a man has to come to the Supreme Court for burial of his father. We are sorry to say that neither the Panchayat, nor the state govt or the high court was able to resolve this problem. We are surprised by the high court’s remark that there will be a law and order problem. We are pained to see that a person is unable to bury his father and has to come to the SC.”
Mehta informed the court that there was no burial ground for Christians and the man could be buried in a place 20 kilometres away from the village.
Gonsalves, however, said the affidavit submitted by the state showed his family members were also buried in the village. Referring to the affidavit, Gonsalves said the deceased was not being allowed the burial as he was Christian. The top court posted the hearing on January 22 after Mehta sought time.
