‘Practice of having separate burial grounds for SC Christians should be abolished’

The practice of having separate burial grounds for Scheduled Caste Christians should be abolished, said A. Kathir, executive director, Evidence, an NGO.

Speaking to media persons here on Wednesday, he said Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay should intervene in this issue as it amounted to untouchability. He cited a recent incident in Tiruchi district, where the body of an SC Christian, Raju, 89, was not allowed to be buried in the common burial ground by dominant Christian groups.

He said Raju and his wife Saleth Mary, 82, both retired teachers, lived in Kottapalayam near Thuraiyur. The couple had three sons and three daughters. One among the three sons worked as a priest in a church in Rome.

Raju died on July 17 and his family decided to bury him after a mass. However, the dominant Christians suggested to Raju’s family to bury the body in a cemetery earmarked for SC Christians after the mass at St. Sebastian Church.

After the villagers demanded the burial in the common burial ground, a peace committee meeting was convened at the office of Musiri Revenue Divisional Officer on July 19, and the body was buried only on July 20. However, the villagers were told to perform the mass at St. Sebastian Church and not at St. Mary Magdalene Church.

Mr. Kathir said Christians, including Christian Parayar, Christian Reddiar, Christian Vanniyar, Christian Naidu, Christian Vellalar and Christian Udayar groups, constituted 60% of the village population., which had different Hindu castes comprised the remaining 40%.

While Christians performed the mass at St. Mary Magdalene Church before burial of the dead on a 2.92-acre site, SC Christians conducted the mass at St. Sebastian Church and were allowed to bury the dead on a seven-cent site. But, the the entire area was poramboke land, he added.

Over 120 years, SC Christians had been burying their dead in that small site, and the officials insisted that the practice be followed. Terming it untouchability, Mr. Kathir asked how could the government direct the people to follow different sets of rules.

In 2014, some people, including Raju, (the retired teacher who died), had approached a civil court challenging the dual burial system. In 2024, the court directed that there should not be any discrimination in burial.

However, the peace committee meeting held at the RDO’ office announced that SC Christians should conduct the mass in St. Sebastian Church and bury the body in the land earmarked for them.

The Evidence’s fact-finding team said Christians and priests should declare that there should be a single mass, single burial and no discrimination in conducting the rituals.

The State government should pressure the Centre to allow Hindu SC people converting into Christianity to continue as Scheduled Caste people. At present, the converted SCs were legally treated as Backward Classes, Mr. Kathir said.