Catholic Church leaders in Kerala have expressed apprehension about the state’s communistled government proposing a new law on the burial rights of Christians.

The proposed law has several aspects that need clarification to ensure that it does not end up obscuring the rights and freedom Christians currently enjoy, Cardinal George Alencherry, major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, said in a statement.

The head of the Eastern-rite Church was responding to the draft Kerala Christian Cemeteries (Right to Burial of Corpse) Bill, 2020, that the government presented in the state legislature on Feb. 6.

The law primarily aims to address the burial rights that Christians of two warring factions — Orthodox and Jacobite. Their century-old quarrel over ownership of land and churches has often resulted in each faction denying access to the other, even to cemeteries to bury their dead.

The dispute has intensified since 2017 when the Supreme Court gave ownership to the Orthodox faction. Since then, the Orthodox faction has denied Jacobites access to cemeteries where the ancestors of both factions are buried.