CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has held that denying members of a marginalised community access to a public burial or cremation ground amounts to practising untouchability, which is prohibited under Article 17 of the Constitution and is a criminal offence under the law.
The ruling came on writ petitions seeking directions to convert a cart-track poramboke land in Karumandisellipalayam village of Perundurai taluk in Erode district into a burial ground, and to ensure that burials are permitted on land already classified and used as a burial site.
On hearing the matter, Justice V Lakshminarayanan noted that, though the disputed land is recorded as cart-track poramboke, it has been used as a burial ground for more than 70 years. Members of the Arunthathiyar community have been conducting burials on the land for several decades.
The court said denial of access to a public burial or cremation ground to persons from marginalised communities constitutes a form of untouchability. The law mandates that preventing such access is a punishable offence.
Expressing displeasure over the disturbance of graves and levelling of the land, the court observed that all religions emphasise the dignity of the dead. The destruction of existing graves, it said, not only disrupted public peace but also caused distress to the families of the deceased.
Stating that the right to dignity extends beyond life, the court said the dead are equally entitled to a dignified burial and performance of last rites. It directed the District Collector to instruct the Tehsildar and the Revenue Divisional Officer to take immediate steps to measure and reclassify the land.
The authorities were also directed to initiate appropriate legal action against those responsible for damaging the graves in the burial ground.