Tuesday, May 07, 2024 | Last Update : 04:56 AM IST
State gets 1 week deadline for Christian cemetary
A division bench of Chief Justice Dr Manjula Chellur and Justice M.S. Sonak was hearing the public interest litigation.
Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Monday directed the dairy development department to identify, demarcate and inform the court within a week as to when a plot of land would be allotted to the Christian community at Goregaon (East) for a cemetery.
The bench further pulled up the state for applying discriminatory attitude towards the community by arbitrarily cancelling the allotment of the plot for the cemetery while two other communities got it. At the same time, the court also chided the petitioner for calling the Bishop and Christian community members in large numbers for attending the hearing.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dr Manjula Chellur and Justice M.S. Sonak was hearing the public interest litigation filed by the United Christian Community Centre (UCCC). The bench questioned the state and the dairy development department as to why the allotment was cancelled and why was it behaving in an unsecular manner by discriminating against the Christian community that was seeking space for a burial ground at Goregaon (E) as they lacked one from Khar to Dahisar.
Addressing the state, Dr Chellur said, “Remember we are a secular nation. There should be no discrimination in death.” The court then asked the dairy department official present to inform the court within a week about how much, where and when the plot would be allotted to the Christian community.
“You are a peace loving community, why are you trying to show your strength in numbers. We are aware of the issue and will do what is needful,” said Dr Chellur, asserting that rather than asking the Bishop to be present in court he should have been allowed to do his work for the community.
Advocate Yashwant Shenoy, who appeared for the UCCC, told the court that the community had initially been allotted 12,500 square metre of land for the cemetery.
This was later brought down to 2,500 square metre as it was part of a composite cemetery that included plots for a crematorium for Hindu and graveyard for the Muslim community, Mr Shenoy said.
