By Express News Service

BARIPADA: Cremation of a 35-year-old man at Mangalpur village was held up for over 15 hours on Thursday as villagers refused to help due to his alleged conversion from Hinduism to Christianity.

Holding the deceased Suresh Singh as anti-religion, they even refused to visit his house after hearing the news of his demise.

According to villagers, Suresh’s father had converted to Christianity and he himself used to go to the local missionary church.

Suresh had been living with his two children after his wife died two years back. However, he had been ailing for the last six months and being the sole earner of the impoverished family, couldn’t afford treatment. He passed away on Wednesday night.

Following his death, villagers approached the church management committee to take charge of his funeral but they refused as Suresh was not registered with the church. The committee, though, offered financial assistance for cremation of the body.

Meanwhile, Badasahi BDO Dillip Maharana was informed of the situation and he sent panchayat executive officer and village-level workers to the village. They managed to persuade the locals to undertake the cremation.

After providing `2000 under Harischandra Yojana, the pyre was lit after 15 hours of Singh’s death and cremation conducted as per Hindu rituals.

In a similar incident, a 60-year-old man had been buried and his effigy cremated to follow two religious customs in Kadakusumi village in August, 2019.

The son of the deceased Dana Marandi was forced to cremate the latter’s effigy as per Hindu tradition even after he had buried it as per Christian funeral custom.