Ultimately, the last rites of Ramaswamy (60), a resident of Sugur village, were performed at 11.15 p.m. on Thursday amid tight security.
There was tension in the village throughout the day as the landless family could not find a place to bury him, since the common land allotted for burial has been occupied by bagair hukum cultivators. Activists and family members had staged a protest with the body of the deceased.
Larger issue
This incident highlights a larger issue that of a decent burial or cremation ground remaining a mirage for many landless families in rural areas where there are no common burial grounds. The worst-affected are Dalits, as a major chunk of them do not own land and face the stigma of caste. In April, when Gutyamma, a Dalit woman, passed away, activists of Dalit Sangharsh Samiti had staged a protest for 24 hours, keeping the body with them, and had demanded a common burial ground.
While families that own land perform the last rites of deceased family members on their property, the landless bury the dead on riverbanks. According to information provided by the district administration, there are more than 100 such villages in Shivamogga district alone.
Sugur did not have a common burial ground, so the landless families used to bury the dead on the banks of the Tunga. In the monsoon, as the river is in spate, it is impossible to do so. Ningappa, a resident of the village, told The Hindu that when the water level in the Tunga rises during monsoon, the burial ground gets inundated.
“We are forced to bury the dead on the upper portion of the riverbank, which is covered with thick weeds. Also, many bodies that are buried during the summer get washed away in the swirling waters of the river during monsoon,” he said. Also, the spot where the body is buried becomes inaccessible, making it difficult to perform the annual religious rites, he added.
The district administration has now ordered to survey land allotted for burial ground, fix its boundaries, erect a fence, and provide necessary amenities for burial of the dead. Following the incident, the district administration has directed the tahsildars to identify villages in their jurisdiction that do not have burial ground and sanction land for the purpose in ‘gomala’ and other places reserved for community use.
