Burial Rights of tribal Christians in Odisha are under threat as families face forced conversions, denied funerals, mob violence, and police inaction following a surge in anti-Christian attacks after the BJP came to power.
By Qalam Times News Network
Bhubaneswar, Odisha | September 2025
Burial Rights : Denial of last rites, forced posthumous conversions, and police inaction expose a deepening crisis for Adivasi and Dalit Christians in the state
Burial Rights have become the latest flashpoint in Odisha’s intensifying religious conflict. According to reporting by Syed Affan of Article-14.com, Adivasi and Dalit Christians across multiple districts are being stopped from burying their dead unless they renounce their faith. Between October 2024 and April 2025, at least five families were denied permission to conduct Christian burials—either in common graveyards or even on their own agricultural land—amid mounting pressure from local Hindutva groups and alleged administrative indifference.
In village after village, Burial Rights are being weaponised to force conformity. In Menjar village of Nabarangpur district, 27-year-old Madhu Harijan died in a government hospital in October 2024. When his body was brought home, villagers opposed his burial as a Christian. His widow, Budai Harijan, said a mob demanded that his body be “converted to Hinduism” before burial. After two days of standoff and with the body decomposing, the family gave in. The coffin was discarded, prayers were denied, and Hindu rituals were imposed on his remains.
Forced Faith, Denied Dignity
Christian priests and families told Qalam Times that complaints to local officials often led nowhere. In Madhu Harijan’s case, authorities suggested shifting the burial to a distant Christian-majority village instead of enforcing the family’s rights. Similar incidents were reported in Pondikote, Siunaguda, Malbeda, and Balasore, where bodies were buried in forests, exhumed after burial, or cremated without consent.
Odisha is home to India’s third-largest tribal population, and nearly 70% of the state’s Christians are Adivasis. Community leaders say attacks have sharply increased since the BJP assumed power in 2024. Data from Christian monitoring groups shows reported incidents of anti-Christian violence in Odisha doubled from 2023 to 2024, with more cases recorded in just the first half of 2025.
Violence, Exhumations, And Social Boycott
In Malbeda village, the body of 21-year-old Saravan Gond—killed in a borewell accident—was buried on family land after villagers demanded the family convert to Hinduism. Days later, after police left, the body was exhumed and burnt in a forest. Despite an FIR naming multiple accused and detailing assaults on women and minors, the family said no arrests were made. They eventually fled the village, abandoning their crops.
In another case, a non-Christian tribal man was denied burial because his son practised Christianity. The family later received police notices accusing them of disturbing public peace, while those who issued threats faced no action.
Pattern Beyond Odisha
Rights groups say these incidents are part of a broader national pattern. Between 2014 and 2025, thousands of cases of violence against Christians were recorded across India, with a sharp spike after 2020. Most occurred in states governed by the BJP and in regions with anti-conversion laws that criminalise religious change—except when it involves “reconversion” to an alleged ancestral faith.
Legal experts note that constitutional protections under the Fifth Schedule and laws like PESA, meant to safeguard tribal autonomy and customs, are routinely ignored when Christian Adivasis assert their rights.
Priests, Women, And Children Targeted
Beyond burial disputes, tribal Christians reported physical attacks, police assaults on churches, and mob violence linked to campaigns promoting religious “reconversion.” In multiple incidents, priests were beaten, women stripped and assaulted, and children injured. Victims say fear of false cases and retaliation prevents many from filing complaints.
A Crisis Of Faith And Citizenship
Human rights activists warn that denying burial is not just a religious issue—it strips citizens of dignity, equality, and belonging. “When a community cannot bury its dead,” one activist said, “it is being told it has no place among the living.”
As Odisha’s political climate hardens, tribal Christians say they are being forced to choose between faith and survival—while the state looks away.
