Communal clash stops burial of a Christian minor girl in Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh, June 06, 2012: After anti-Christian clash over burial of a minor girl in Dungeli village of Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh the Body of a Christian girl had to wait in open for whole day to find a place to rest in peace. Dantewada is one of the most Naxlites’ strong holds and Dungeli is an interial village.

Pastor Edger said, “Sony Karma aged about 11, daughter of Shankar Karma died due to epilepsy and polio yesterday evening around 10 pm. The father of the girl is also doing his evangelical ministry along with his job in National Mineral Developmental Corporation took his daughter’s body to his home village in Dungeli for burial in his own land but allegedly fundamental groups incited the villagers to stop them from burial.”

He said, “It was around 8.30 morning a group of about fifty persons reached the venue and created trouble in the house. Later it led to communal clash which left the body in the open for whole day and also nine people injured.”

Bacheli Town Inspector, Yakub said, “This area is Naxalite influential area so we had to wait for sufficient force to reach the place. Even though the village is just six kilometers away from the place of incident, we buried the girl by the evening. We have filed FIR but we could not arrest anybody due to influence of Naxelites. We will be arresting the culprits soon.”

Pastor Kashi Rajan of the Basthar for Christ Church said, “Even though the police tried to help, the girl could not get an honorable funeral in her own village, Dungeli. With police escort her body was brought to Bacheli town where her burial was taken place. It is the result of the Anti Christian propaganda.”

This incident has shown how communal elements are influencing the life of people. The fundamentalism has divided the society into many groups which is fragmenting the entire society. It is also believed that religious conversions have played major role in dividing people from their normal cultural setting which is affecting communal equilibrium.

Chhattisgarh Christian Forum President Arun Panna Lal said, “We are seriously thinking of approaching the court to get the body back to the girl’s village for an honorable burial.”

– john anthony