New Delhi: Four tribal Christians were forced to convert to Hinduism to be able to bury the head of their family members in Siunaguda village of Nabarangpur district, Odisha, a six-member fact-finding team of lawyers found while interacting with community leaders and villagers in Balasore, Odisha.
“In a bizarre tale of events, four Christians were forced to become Hindus to bury the head of their family members, Mr Kesab Santa, 70; a condition the hindu villagers insisted on allowing burial in Siunaguda village in Nabarangpur district of Odisha. The man had died on 2nd March 2025. There were 3 Christian families among 30 Hindu families in the village,” the fact-finding report stated.
The team, consisting Clara D’Souza, Sujata Jena, Gitanjali Senapati, Sophia Mariam, Balthazar and Ajaya Kumar Singh collected the testimonies from the villagers on March 15 who spoke on a range of allegations including burial denial, religious functions and intimidation of boycott from the village community under Raibania police station in Balasore district.
According to the fact-finding team, the developments followed an unrest triggered by an incident on December 18, 2024, when a mob under the banner of Sarna Majhi/Majhi Pargana stopped the burial of Budhia Murmu, a local santal tribal Christian.
“It took over 12 hours to bury the dead amidst tensions and arguments. The tribal Christians were shocked to discover for the first time such threats and intimidations from their fellow tribals over the burial of their relatives. The burial issue further escalated to a series of threats and boycotts,” the report stated.
Subsequently, on December 23, the local police visited the Parish Church and searched for the priest who conducted the burial rites, based on complaints against him. The police asked the priest to produce a caste certificate and visit the police station. Without revealing to him the contents of complaints. “The priest is yet to know the contents of the complaints nor received any complaints,” the report stated.
A series of incidents followed including summons by the police and a magistrate court to the two groups involved in the clashes that resulted in no resolution. The groups also met on directions of the tahsildar where the Majhi Pargana insisted that “Christian Adivasi have no burial ground rights as per the Constitution”. As a result, no common ground was found and the issue remained unresolved.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.