In a heartrending incident, a family in Ranchi was denied a burial site in Christian cemetery citing that there was no space left in the graveyard to bury their deceased relative. The case pertains to an elderly man living in a town near the Harmu River who died on Thursday. When his family approached the Christian cemetery to lay to rest the deceased man, they were told that there is no space left in the cemetery for his burial. Finding themselves at their wit’s end, the family performed the last rites of the dead man in a crematorium with Hindu rituals.
According to reports, the deceased, Rasharan, was an adherent of Christianity for the last 15 years. Philip Tutti, Ramsharan’s son, said that all his family members routinely visited Saint Francis Church from the last several years. Following his father’s death, the family contacted the Saint Francis Church authority and sought a resting place for his deceased father in the Christian cemetery. However, the father of the church passed up their request claiming that there is no place available in their cemetery. Denying the permission to bury his father in the Christian cemetery, the father of the church suggested his family take the body of the deceased man to his village wand perform the last rites there.
When Philip expressed his inability to transport his father’s body to his native village Phudi, the father of the church urged him to seek local cooperation in shifting his father’s body to the village. He also asked Philip to hunt for an alternate option. Later, the family, in consensus with the locals decided to perform the last rites of the man according to Hindu traditions. The deceased man’s body was taken to Harmu Muktidham and cremated there in accordance with the Hindu customs.
However, according to a report published in Live Hindustan, P Aiind, a member of Saint Francis Church in Harmu denied being aware of any such incident. As per the rules mandated by the Saint Francis Church, every family has to buy a place for themselves in the cemetery. For this, donations have to be made. A person residing outside of Ranchi may not have donated to the cemetery. In such a scenario, the church management has the authority to prevent the burial, the report said.
