Mob vandalises prayer hall over burial dispute in Bastar

In yet another episode of violence over the burial rights of Christians in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, a mob in Kanker district vandalised a prayer hall on Thursday (December 18, 2025). Several people, including police personnel, sustained injuries in intermittent clashes over the past three days.

According to eyewitnesses, tensions had been building over the past few days in Bade Teoda village in Antagarh tehsil of Kanker after the father of the village sarpanch, Rajman Salam, was buried on village land on Tuesday (December 16, 2025).

In a video released on Tuesday, a day after his father’s death, Mr. Salam said that he had converted to Christianity but his father had not. He further said that he had requested village elders to allow the burial, but they insisted that it could not be carried out in his presence. He then buried his father according to Christian rituals, triggering a backlash. He alleged that his political rival objected to his presence at his father’s burial and instigated others against him.

Another villager told reporters that the burial was opposed as the family wanted to perform the last rites according to Christian customs instead of following tribal customs.

Minor clashes were reported on Tuesday, followed by a more intense confrontation on Wednesday (December 17, 2025). A large contingent of police was deployed in the village, and efforts were made to defuse tensions. On Thursday morning, the body was exhumed and taken elsewhere, even as police attempted to broker peace between the two sides.

Despite these efforts and heavy police presence, angry villagers attacked a prayer hall located a short distance away.

Several visuals purportedly from the village surfaced online on Thursday, showing men running with bamboo poles and arguing with police personnel. Footage of vandalism and arson at the prayer hall also circulated. In one video, a group of men is seen attacking the prayer hall with bamboo poles, while another shows them entering the premises.

A senior police officer said on Thursday that the Executive Magistrate issued an order for the exhumation of the body in accordance with legal provisions based on the villagers’ complaint.

“The inquest and post-mortem examination will be conducted, and necessary legal action will be taken thereafter. This issue led to a tense situation in the village. Villagers clashed with each other, and stone-pelting incidents occurred. Police personnel and the Executive Magistrate took necessary steps to control the situation. Property was also damaged during the incident,” the officer said.

Burials of deceased persons from families that have converted to Christianity remain a sensitive issue in Bastar, with several instances of violence and aggressive opposition by non Christians. Earlier this year, a man from Bastar district moved the Supreme Court seeking burial rights for his father on his own land after opposition from fellow villagers. The top court directed him to bury his father in a Christian burial ground in another part of the district. In its order, the court said it was pained that a person had to approach the Supreme Court for burial rights because authorities had failed to resolve the matter at the village level. Kanker and Bastar are among the seven districts of the Bastar division.