Ramesh Baghel vs State of Chhattisgarh & Others

Held: [Per Nagarathna, J.] (i) The appellant permitted to conduct the funeral rites of his father in his private agricultural land at village Chhindwada at the earliest; (ii) However, the appellant shall not take any advantage, legally or otherwise, for having been permitted to bury his father in his private land; (iii) Since the death of the appellant’s father has given rise to the unsavoury controversy regarding the place of burial, respondent Nos.3 to 9 directed to provide adequate security and protection to the appellant and his family to carry out the funeral rites of his father at his private agricultural land at village Chhindwada at the earliest; (iv) The implementation of the aforesaid directions to be expedited; (v) The respondent-State and its local authorities directed to demarcate exclusive sites as grave yards for burial of Christians throughout the State in accordance with law; (vi) Although, by consensus, this Court has issued certain directions as per the Order of the Court, nevertheless, direction five above shall be complied with by the respondent-State and its authorities dehors the direction issued under Article 142 of the Constitution. [Para 1] [Per Satish Chandra Sharma, J.(dissenting)] (a) The Appellant and his family be provided with an appropriate site within the Designated Christian Burial Ground situated at village Karkapal for the burial of the Deceased's remains; (b) The Respondent State is directed to ensure that the Appellant and his family are provided with all ancillary logistical support for the purpose of transferring the remains of the Deceased from the mortuary at the Medical College situated at Jagdalpur to Designated Christian Burial Ground situated at village Karkapal; (c) The Respondent State to grant the Appellant and his family members adequate police protection which shall be reviewed by the concerned authorities after a period of 7 (seven) days; (d) The Respondent State to take adequate measures to ensure no public order incident takes place at either village Karkapal or village Chindwada; and (e) The Respondent State is directed to ensure that the burial of the remains of the Deceased takes place at the earliest – The Appellant and his family members are directed to cooperate with the authorities of the Respondent State who shall handle the situation with the sensitivity it deserves. [Para 2]

Constitution of India – Art.142 – Directions issued – Appellant, a Christian wished to accord his father (pastor) a decent burial in his own native village – However, the burial was objected by the fellow villagers:

Held: (Per Court) There is no consensus between the members of this Bench on the place of resting of the appellant’s father who died on 07.01.2025 – Bearing in mind the fact that the deceased has been kept in mortuary for the last three weeks since 07.01.2025 and in order to accord an expeditious and dignified burial of the deceased, the following directions in exercise of powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India: (i) The appellant to conduct the funeral rites and bury his deceased father at the burial ground at village Karkapal; (ii) The respondent-State and its local authorities to ensure that the appellant and his family are provided with all logistical support for the purpose of transferring the body of the deceased from the mortuary at the Medical College situated in Jagdalpur to the Christian burial ground situated at village Karkapal, if so desired by the appellant; (iii) Adequate police protection to be accorded in this regard; (iv) The respondent-State and its authorities to ensure that the burial of the deceased father shall take place at the earliest. [Para 3]

Constitution of India – Arts.14 and 15 – Violation of duty to ensure burial – Betrayal of the sublime principles of secularism: Held: [Per Nagarathna, J.] The village Panchayat has abdicated its duty to ensure burial of appellant’s father within a period of

24 hours of his death – The Panchayat has been taking sides – The affidavit of the ASP, Bastar, stated 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 – This declaration by the respondents is unfortunate – It is violation of Article 14 and Article 15(1) of the Constitution of India which speak of equality before the law and the equal protection of the laws as well as places a strict prohibition of discrimination on the ground of religion, respectively – Attitude on the part of local authorities, at the village level or higher level, indicates a betrayal of the sublime principles of secularism. [Paras 22.10, 22.11] Constitution of India – Arts.21 and 25 – Last rights and ceremonies – Right to choose place for ceremony: Held: [Per Satish Chandra Sharma, J.] The fact that procedures pertaining to last rites; and ceremonies involved, from a part of the right(s) protected under Part III of the Constitution of India – However, to claim that such right(s) would encompass the unqualified right to choose the “place” of such ceremony (including burial) would prima facie appear to stretch constitutional limits beyond what was envisaged – It is well settled that right(s) protected under Article 21 of the Constitution of India are subject to “procedure established by law” which is required to be just, fair and reasonable – Furthermore, the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion under Article 25, is ex facie subject to “public order”; and the Sub-Clause 2 of Article 25 enables the State to frame provisions regulating certain activities associated with religious practices – Thus, to claim an absolute or unqualified right in respect of the exact “place” of burial of a person under Article 21 and Article 25, prima facie, appears to be circumspect – Nonetheless, a person / community cannot altogether be denied a place to carry out last rites including inter alia burials – On the contrary, the State has a duty to provide members of all religious communities with identified places to carry out last rites within the confines and limits of reason and rationality. [Para 18]