By Sujit Bisoyi
A Christian family was allegedly not allowed to bury a dead 13-year-old boy at the burial ground on Saturday amid prevailing tensions over a demand for the relocation of a church-cum-prayer hall at Kapena, a tribal-majority village in Odisha’s Nabarangpur district.
Kapena native Krutibas Santa, who is from the Christian community, lost his son following a prolonged illness early on Saturday morning. However, other residents of the village later blocked access to the burial ground and prevented the family from performing the last rites there.
The grieving family then performed the 13-year-old’s last rites and buried the body on their own registered land, following the intervention of the district administration and police, nearly 20 hours after his death, said family members. Krutibas had to sign a declaration that no religious symbol would be placed on the gravestone and that peace and order would be maintained in the village.
“The villagers, including some of the direct relatives of the deceased (who were not from the Christian community), were also opposing the burial of the minor’s body even on his own registered land. They demanded that the body be taken away, outside the village,” Umerkote additional tahsildar Nilambar Pujari told The Indian Express.
Pujari said that following the intervention of senior district administration officials and police, the body was buried on the family’s own registered land.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.