An Indian court had to inter-vene to ensure a proper burial for a tribal Christian after residents of his predominantly Hindu villa-ge objected to Christian burial in the village. Fifty-four-year-old Isvar Korram, an indigenous Christian, died on April 25 while undergoing treatment at a hospital in central Chhattisgarh state’s Jagdalpur city, which is the headquarters of Bastar district. But villagers from his native Chhindbahar, a remote village in the hilly, forested district, told his family not to bring back his body and bury it according to Christian rites. “This is not the first time that indigenous Christians were denied permission to bury their dead in the region,” said Bishop Vijay Kumar Thobi of the Protestant Church. Bastar is known as a stronghold of the Maoist rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and have been engaged in an armed insurgency for many decades. Local church leaders said the villagers “opposed a Christian burial on the plea that it will prove a bad omen” for them. “This time, we decided to file a case in the Bilaspur High Court [the state’s top court] seeking a direction to bury Korram in his village,” Bishop Thobi told.