A Christian woman was denied burial in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh (map), according to Catholic Connect, a website of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.
The Supreme Court of India recently affirmed that Christians and members of other religious minority groups may be buried in public cemeteries in the Hindu-majority nation. Authorities in Amodi forbade the grieving husband from burying his wife’s body in the public cemetery or on family land, according to the report.
Villagers “opposed the burial and demanded ‘Ghar Wapsi’ (reconversion to Hinduism), while issuing threats that reportedly included physical assault, damage to property, and the possibility of exhumation if burial rites were performed,” according to Catholic Connect. “They also claimed Christian burial practices would defile local land and deities.”