The Grama Niladhari (village administrative officers appointed by the government) of Karukkamunai along with ten members of a local Rural Development Committee argued that a Christian funeral was not permitted in the village cemetery.

Instead, they pressured the woman’s two daughters into allowing the 27 September funeral to be carried out according to Hindu customs.

A Barnabas Fund contact confirms that this is a recurrent problem for Christian converts in Sri Lanka’s Hindu-majority eastern coast region, especially those in rural areas, as burial grounds are controlled by local temples.

In some cases, he reported, villagers have exhumed the bodies of Christians from temple-controlled burial grounds and discarded them.

Source: Barnabas Fund