Why did Gujarat HC order Muslim family to shift body buried on disputed land to community graveyard

NEW DELHI: The Gujarat high court, in its July 13 order, ruled that a Muslim family cannot bury a deceased relative on disputed land if a designated community graveyard with sufficient space is available. The court dismissed a plea filed by residents of Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district and upheld a panchayat notice asking them to shift the body to the village’s Muslim graveyard.How did the burial dispute begin?According to the court order, the case arose after the petitioners buried a deceased family member on a 27-guntha piece of land near a Hindu crematorium.After the burial, the village sarpanch issued a notice asking the family why they had used that land instead of the village’s designated Muslim graveyard. The notice also said that if they failed to give a satisfactory explanation, the body would be dug up after following religious rituals and buried again in the community graveyard.The family challenged the notice in the high court. They also challenged a Deputy Collector’s decision refusing to recognise the disputed land as part of the Muslim graveyard. According to them, the land had originally been marked as a Muslim burial ground in government records, but that entry was removed later. They also argued that the existing community graveyard had run out of space.Since the dispute involved a burial ground, the high court asked revenue and panchayat officials to inspect the existing Muslim graveyard and submit a report on whether there was enough space left for burials.Why did the high court reject the family’s plea?Justice Nikhil S Kariel relied on the inspection report, which found that the village’s Muslim graveyard covered about 700 square metres, was fenced and had a gate. The report also said that only about half of the land had been used, with the remaining area still available for burials.“Considering such a position… when there is a burial ground earmarked for the persons of the Muslim community… it was not open for the petitioners to have decided to have the deceased person of their family buried in the disputed 27 gunthas.”The court said the situation might have been different if the designated graveyard had been far away or difficult for the family to access. But since there was a community graveyard in the same village with enough vacant space, there was no reason to use the disputed land.“It may have been a different matter that the burial ground… may have been at a far distance, which may have caused hardships to the family members of the deceased… yet, to this court it would appear that the same is not the case.”The high court also pointed out that this was not the first such incident. It noted that in 2021-22, the same family had buried another relative on the disputed land. That body was later dug up and reburied in the designated Muslim graveyard on the authorities’ direcions. Since the family did not challenge that decision then, the court said they could not decide on their own to use the same land again four years later.The court dismissed the petition after recording the family’s statement that they would shift the body to the designated graveyard within 10 days. It added that if they failed to do so, the state and panchayat authorities could carry out the process after informing the family and ensuring that the burial was handled with proper religious rituals and dignity.