The Supreme Court on Monday said it was pained to see a man move the top court to bury his father in keeping with Christian rites in a Chhattisgarh village after the local authorities failed to resolve a dispute.

A bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma was hearing a plea filed by Ramesh Baghel challenging an order of Chhattisgarh High Court disposing of his plea seeking burial of his father, pastor Subhash Baghel, in their native Chindhwara village in Bastar.

A section of the tribal population of the village had objected on the ground that Baghel’s father was a converted Christian and therefore could not be buried in the local burial ground which was earmarked for Hindu tribals.

“Why should a person who has lived in a particular village be not buried in that village? The body is lying in the morgue since January 7. Sorry to say that a man has to come to the Supreme Court for the burial of his father. We are sorry to say that neither the panchayat nor the state government or the high court was able to resolve the problem. We are surprised by the high court’s remark that there will be law and order problems. We are pained to see that a person is unable to bury his father and has to come to the Supreme Court,” the bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice S.C. Sharma said.

Baghel said that while a section of villagers had “aggressively objected” to the burial, police threatened him with legal action.

Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Chhattisgarh government, argued that a precedent would be set across the country if a converted Christian pastor was allowed to be buried in a burial ground earmarked for Hindus.

“This is just the beginning of a movement to implement it all over the country,” Mehta told the bench. Advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing Baghel, said sarcastically: “Yes, the beginning of a movement to kick Christians out.”

Mehta responded: “You (the petitioner) just wanted disturbance between tribal Hindus and… Christians.”