Tribal villagers assault Rajman Salam’s home and church in Bedetevda village, Chhattisgarh state, India on Dec. 18, 2025. (Morning Star Information screenshot).
NEW DELHI (Morning Star Information) – Officers in India exhumed the physique of a tribal man with out his sons’ consent after villagers attacked Christians for burying it on land of Christian family, arguing that it will insult their deity, sources stated.
The exhumation of the physique in Chhattisgarh state’s Kanker District final month with out the consent of the household left them frantically looking for it and in the end pressured them to go to courtroom demanding solutions. The administration then buried him in a Christian cemetery, projecting him as a Christian, the sources stated.
Family members of the late Chamru Ram Salam, who was an adherent of conventional tribal faith, await the ultimate judgment from the Chhattisgarh Excessive Courtroom after the courtroom’s interim order recognized the deceased and the petitioner as Christians in an try and justify the burial in a Christian cemetery. The non-Christian petitioner denied that he or his father adopted the Christian religion, sources stated.
After the Dec. 16 burial – carried out in accordance with tribal customs – greater than 500 tribal villagers tried to destroy Chamru Ram Salam’s grave after which attacked his household and about 150 Christians visiting them in Bedetevda village, later setting his home and three church buildings ablaze.
The mob claimed the burial website to be a sacred floor devoted to a village deity and, as a result of half of Salam’s household follows the Christian religion, stated the burial was an insult to their deity, in accordance with a supply who requested anonymity.
With one other, bigger assault deliberate for Dec. 18, native police that day exhumed the physique. The deceased’s son, Rajman Salam, stated he and his household fled for his or her lives on Dec. 18 and returned solely final week.
He stated they’d no choice however to go to courtroom to find out the place his father’s physique was.
“The administration didn’t take permission from us, his speedy household, earlier than exhuming his physique,” stated Rajman Salam, a Christian and head of Bedetevda village. “They exhumed his physique and simply took it away. We didn’t know the place they’d saved it, nor did we all know if they’d buried him elsewhere.”
Salam’s brother, Ram Singh Salam, a follower of tribal faith, approached the state Excessive Courtroom in Bilaspur on Dec. 20, demanding the Kanker administration return his father’s physique to him in order that he might bury it in accordance with tribal customs, the petition said.
“The Extra Advocate Normal gave false assertion within the courtroom stating that my father and elder brother observe the Christian religion and due to this fact the administration had buried the physique of my deceased father in Dhamtari Christian Cemetery [63 miles from Salam’s village],” Rajman Salam stated.
The Extra Advocate Normal had additionally submitted to the courtroom that the burial of the physique in Dhamtari Christian Cemetery happened within the presence of Rajman Salam’s mom and older brother’s spouse.
“After my brother filed the case, the administration forcefully took my mom and sister-in-law to the Dhamtari Christian Cemetery and buried my father,” Rajman Salam stated.
In a video interview circulated on social media, Ram Singh Salam clearly said that he, his spouse and mom don’t observe the Christian religion, and that neither did his father.
“After they themselves are tribals, why would they willingly witness to the burial?” Rajman Salam requested, alleging foul play.
Earlier than exhuming his father’s physique, the Kanker administration made his mom and sister-in-law give their thumb prints on paperwork with out informing them what they had been, “in order that now they will inform the courtroom that they took permission from the household earlier than exhuming the physique.”
A listening to scheduled for Jan. 5 after which Jan. 9 was postponed because the household awaits a verdict.
Home and Three Church buildings Set Ablaze
Three out of 5 sons of Chamru Ram Salam have put their religion in Christ, the primary to take action 20 years in the past.
After Chamru Ram Salam died at age 65 on the night of Dec. 15, Rajman Salam referred to as the distinguished elders of the village and requested they present up within the morning to hold out his father’s burial in accordance with tribal customs.
“As my father didn’t observe Christianity, we determined to bury him in accordance with tribal customs,” Rajman Salam confirmed to Morning Star Information.
Six villagers confirmed up within the morning, and Rajman Salam requested them to bury his father with the help of the deceased’s oldest son – Ram Singh Salam, who additionally follows tribal faith. Rajman Salam requested they “permit the three Christian sons to place a fist of mud within the grave after all of the tribal rituals are executed,” he stated.
Sukdu Ram, a political opponent of Rajman Salam who misplaced the final Panchayat (village council) elections towards him, mobilized the villagers, Rajman Salam stated.
“Sukdu Ram grabbed the chance to settle scores with me,” he stated. “He instigated the villagers to revolt.”
With the household having already determined to bury their father on their personal property, they then determined to go forward with out the assistance and help of the villagers. They buried the physique in accordance with tribal customs, Rajman Salam advised Morning Star Information.
The next day, Dec. 17, about 150 pastors and Christian leaders from in and round Kanker District visited the household dwelling to pay their condolences. Whereas they had been all in the home, a mob of 500 to 600 folks with thick picket sticks, slingshots and stones attacked.
“Sukdu Ram and others had referred to as Hindu right-wing teams who joined forces with the villagers and demanded from the household that Chamru Ram’s physique be exhumed,” stated Rajman Salam.
The mob started to assault the household and the Christians visiting them. A pastor current stated on situation of anonymity that they beat him with picket sticks, and as he fled for his life, he jumped picket fences and twisted his ankle.
“By some means, I managed to get to my motorcycle and took to the jungle to flee the mob fury,” he stated. “I drove for 4 miles on the skinny path within the jungle earlier than I hit the freeway.”
He stated the assault lasted two hours earlier than police arrived and managed to revive order. Anticipating rigidity and additional violence, authorities referred to as in additional forces.
Rajman Salam’s sister-in-law Lalita and his brother Ram Singh sustained severe head accidents, as did Pastor Siddhnath Chandra and a number of other different Christians current to pay their condolences.
The identical night, the Hindu nationalists and villagers collectively deliberate an assault on a bigger scale for the next day, Dec. 18, the supply stated.
“They despatched messages to every home in 45 close by villages threatening every dwelling to ship a minimum of one, if no more, grownup member of every household,” he stated. “The village and the neighborhood would ostracize any home that didn’t oblige.”
Whereas a number of pastors paying respects to the bereaved household escaped in the course of the assault the day before today, lots of them had remained, stated the supply.
A mob of greater than 3,000 folks from 45 villages gathered with sharp instruments, picket sticks, stones and slingshots the morning of Dec. 18. The mob pressured the police pressure to exhume the physique after which went to Rajman Salam’s home, attacking the household and the pastors who had been visiting them.
They broken his whole home, looted belongings, and destroyed a yr’s price of grain provide of their barn.
“The mob stole money estimated at $3,000, [meant for Rajman Salam’s business] and gold ornaments from Rajman’s home, in addition to all the opposite issues that had been looted and the property vandalized,” stated Pastor Salim Hakku, a Christian chief from Jagdalpur, Bastar District, who sheltered Rajman Salam and different Christians for a number of weeks after the assault. “The mob then set his home on fireplace after which turned to the church, which is constructed on Rajman’s property adjoining his home, vandalized it, and set it on fireplace too.”
After setting fireplace to and damaging the church construction and burning Bibles, the agitated mob ran virtually two miles to a different church constructing in Majbada village, then one other in several village, each falling beneath the jurisdiction of the Amabeda police station, and set them on fireplace, Rajman Salam stated.
Numerous cops tried exhausting to manage the mob, he stated.
“The mob used slingshots to hit the Christians and the police pressure and pelted large stone at us,” Rajman Salam stated.
Native media reported the mob additionally severely assaulted a policeman making an attempt to curtail the violence.
After Rajman Salam submitted a written memorandum on Dec. 22 to the Amabeda officer in-charge to behave towards the culprits, one other incident occurred on Dec. 28 when a mob attacked and vandalized 15 Christian houses, six miles from Badetevda in Pusagaon village.
There have been 36 Christian households in Badetevda village, and about 150 residents deserted their houses and fled for his or her lives due to the assault, Pastor Hakku stated. Some who sheltered with him have steadily began to return to the village, and final week Rajman Salam additionally returned to his dwelling.
“Attributable to opposition, worry and stress, all of the households besides 4 recanted the Christian religion,” Pastor Hakku stated.
Whereas greater than 100 Christians often attend Sunday worship within the now-closed Badetevda church, only some of them made the journey to Jagdalpur on Jan. 11 to hitch Pastor Hakku’s church service. Different households who had fled and had been staying with Pastor Hakku attended the service.
For the reason that Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) assumed energy in 2023, tensions have intensified, an nameless supply stated.
“The present state of affairs in Chhattisgarh is alarming,” he stated. “Since BJP got here into energy within the state and with their authorities already on the middle, issues for Christians have develop into horrifying.”
Nearly no congregations are assembly in Kanker District besides a number of mainstream church buildings, he stated.
“It has develop into inconceivable for me to go away my home with out being observed,” he stated. “If I enter any dwelling, I instantly get a name from the police station, enquiring in regards to the purpose for my go to to that home.”
Attacking any spiritual venue is towards the constitutional norms of India, and authorities ought to take strict motion towards those that unfold violence and hatred on this type, stated Pastor Hakku.
“Breaking or burning our church buildings is not going to cease us from worshipping,” he stated. “We don’t want buildings to worship our God; we are able to sit beneath the shade of any tree and pray.”
The hostile tone of the Nationwide Democratic Alliance authorities, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Occasion, towards non-Hindus has emboldened Hindu extremists in a number of components of the nation to assault Christians since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took energy in Could 2014, spiritual rights advocates say.
India ranked 12th on Christian help group Open Doorways’ 2026 World Watch Checklist of the international locations the place it’s most troublesome to be a Christian, up from 31st in 2013 earlier than Modi got here to energy.
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