UPSC Darpan

SocietyGS17 October 2026

Sukma Gram Sabhas Invoke PESA to Bar Pastors and Deny Burial Land to Christians

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The news

Raipur. At Punpalli village in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, a banner now bars pastors from religious activity and forbids conversion events, after a gram sabha on October 2 passed 12 resolutions, The Indian Express reports. An unwritten resolution, says Janpad member Madkam Bhima, denies burial land to tribal Christians; four Sukma villages have done this, and a Bastar Christian body counts at least ten. Punpalli’s 21 Christian families (75 people) would have to travel over 13 km for burials. The banner cites PESA, which lets gram sabhas in Scheduled Areas (tribal areas notified under the Fifth Schedule) protect cultural identity. Advocate Sudeep Shrivastava calls this unconstitutional. Christian groups say the split verdict is being misused, and that since a February Supreme Court stay on forcible exhumations, villages refuse burial at the outset.

The chain in one line: Conversions in Bastar provoke a cultural backlash → the Supreme Court splits in Ramesh Baghel (January 2025) → a February stay halts forcible exhumations → villages refuse burial land upfront, citing PESA

Static syllabus linkage

  1. PESA makes the gram sabha the guardian of custom in Fifth Schedule areas. Article 244(1) and the Fifth Schedule govern Scheduled Areas outside the four north-eastern Sixth Schedule States. PESA (Act 40 of 1996) extends Part IX on panchayats to them, and Section 4(d) makes every gram sabha competent to “safeguard and preserve the traditions and customs of the people, their cultural identity”.
  2. Articles 25 and 21 protect worship in life and dignity in death. Article 25 guarantees freedom to profess, practise and propagate religion, subject to public order, morality and health. In Parmanand Katara (1995) the Supreme Court held that the right to dignity under Article 21 extends to a person’s body after death.

Why UPSC loves this

  1. GS1 and GS2 meet where custom collides with rights. GS1 covers “communalism, regionalism and secularism”; GS2, laws “for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections”.

Prelims nuggets

  • PESA, 1996 is Act 40 of 1996; its Section 4(d) empowers every gram sabha to safeguard the traditions, customs and cultural identity of the people.
  • Article 19(5) permits reasonable restrictions on the freedom to move and reside anywhere in India for the protection of the interests of any Scheduled Tribe.
  • In Rev. Stainislaus v State of Madhya Pradesh (1977), the Supreme Court held that the right to propagate religion does not include a right to convert another person.

Analysis

  1. PESA protects custom, but not against the Constitution. Section 4(d) preserves customs; it does not suspend fundamental rights. Panchayats are “State” under Article 12, bound by Part III. Article 19(5) allows limits on outsiders’ movement to protect tribal interests, so regulating a proselytising event may survive scrutiny. Denying a resident a grave cannot.
  2. Lens — Tradition and social justice: the anxiety is real, the remedy is wrong. Many Bastar villagers fear conversion breaks the shared deities and festivals of village life; that fear deserves a hearing. But tribal Christians are also tribals, and refusing them a grave makes belonging conditional on faith. A sensible officer separates the two: inducement complaints go to the police, and burial land is secured for every resident.
  3. A split verdict has left a vacuum that village politics is filling. Ramesh Baghel settled one burial but no principle, since the bench skipped a larger-bench reference while the body lay in a mortuary. Justice Sharma’s designated-ground view is now read as licence to exclude. A larger-bench ruling or State rules guaranteeing burial land would close the gap.

Possible Mains question

Can a gram sabha’s power under PESA to protect cultural identity limit a resident’s right to worship and to a dignified burial? Critically examine. (15 marks, 250 words)

Model approach

  1. Directive — Critically examine. Weigh both sides and judge.
  2. Introduction — PESA made the gram sabha guardian of custom. Open with Punpalli and Section 4(d).
  3. Body — custom has constitutional weight, including Article 19(5). Bastar’s conversion anxieties.
  4. Body — a gram sabha is “State” and cannot override Part III. Value addition: Parmanand Katara and the Ramesh Baghel split. Flowchart: Constitution → PESA → gram sabha, Part III as ceiling.
  5. Conclusion — autonomy within rights. A larger-bench ruling and burial land for every faith.

Administrator's brainstorm

You are Collector, Sukma. A Christian family in Punpalli has lost a member and the village refuses a grave. What do you do?

The burial cannot wait: I would identify land that day and tell elders that the gram sabha cannot deny a grave, treating it as no one’s victory. Within a week every panchayat would earmark burial land for all residents; conversion complaints would go to the police.