The two judges on a Division Bench of the Supreme Court were unable to reach a consensus on the place of burial of the body of a converted pastor in Chhattisgarh that has been lying in a morgue for over three weeks since his death on January 7.

The lead judge on the Bench, Justice B.V. Nagarathna, directed the authorities to permit pastor Subhas Baghel to be buried in the family’s private agricultural land at their native village of Chhindawada in Maoist-hit Bastar district.

However, the puisne judge on the Bench, Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, did not agree with Justice Nagarathna.

Justice Sharma, in a separate opinion, directed the body to be buried only in the designated Christian graveyard at Karkapal, which was 25 km from the Chhindawada.

Usually, a split verdict would see the Bench refer the case to the Chief Justice of India for constitution of a three-judge Bench to hear it afresh. However, Justices Nagarathna and Sharma employed the apex court’s extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to bring a quietus to the case.

Noting the body had been lying in the mortuary for three weeks and deserved a dignified funeral, the Bench finally directed the body to be buried at the designated Christian graveyard in Karkapal at the earliest. The court ordered the family to be given police protection.

In her opinion, Justice Nagarathna noted that the dispute over the burial of the pastor, who belonged to the Mahra Christian community, would not have arisen had the gram panchayat allotted it an exclusive burial ground.

‘Violation of right’

Justice Nagarathna made scathing comments of how the local body’s lapse in providing an exclusive burial ground for the community smacked of discrimination. It violated the right to equality before law and equal protection by the laws. The absence of a graveyard was against the right to dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The judge noted the panchayat’s conduct amounted to a “betrayal of the sublime principles of secularism”.

On the other hand, Justice Sharma noted that rights were subject to procedures established by the law. The Chhattisgarh State laws provided for designated burial/cremation places. In this case, the designated place was 25 km from Chhindawada.

Ramesh Baghel, the pastor’s son, had approached the apex court after the State High Court refused his plea to bury the body in an area meant for Christians in the graveyard at Chhindawada.

The petitioner had said his family and ancestors had been residing in the village since time immemorial. They had agricultural lands in the village. He had submitted that two generations of the family were buried in the Christian area of the village graveyard. He said “communal elements” among the villagers had “aggressively objected” to the burial of his father’s body in the same graveyard. The petition said the family was forced to take the body out of the village.

“They are also not allowing the family to bury the body in their privately-owned land… I want my father to be buried in our village graveyard,” senior advocate Colin Gonsalves and advocate Satya Mitra had submitted on behalf of the petitioner.