“Every Muslim home in this Agra village is a cemetery.”

Translated from this 2017 article: https://www.bhaskar.com/news/UP-AGRA-every-house-in-a-agra-village-is-cemetery-5654815-PHO.html

Chah Pokhar falls under the Achnera block of Agra. On Monday morning, 80 year old Mangal Khan passed away in Chah Pokhar. The land that officials claim is the site for a Muslim graveyard has instead a small lake on it. For the past 70 years, people here have been burying their loved ones around and in their homes. But now, their homes have run out of space. Khan’s family proposed to have him buried on property owned by the panchayat. However, several Hindu villagers came out against the proposal. For more than 28 hours, Khan’s dead body remained in his house. On Tuesday, he was buried on that same property after intervention from local authorities.

It was only after Mangal Khan’s family and others protested outside government offices that a Tehsildar arrived (although flanked by police). A panchayat meeting ensued during which deliberations took place between the villagers who then agreed for the body’s burial on panchayat property.

What does the police say?

Achnera police station’s in-charge K. K. Baliyan stated that it was with village consensus that Mangal Khan’s burial site was decided.

“The controversy is over now. In the future, Muslims will use this as their cemetery.”

What does the village head say?

According to the village head, Sardar Singh, the number of people who live in Chah Pokhar is 4000 while the voter population is approximately 2500.

“Only a few houses here have toilets. The Muslim families are facing many problems because their homes house grave after grave.

Uncertainty prevails when it comes to the graveyard’s formal location.

Salim Shah, a local teacher, argues that the graveyard for Muslims exists on file but not in reality. He says that every time residents have complained, authorities have directed them to the small lake where building a cemetery is impossible. Salim explains how earlier people used their own yards as burial sites. But since there is no more space available there, they dig graves in the homes of elders who live beyond the railway line.

“There is no permanent location for our corpses. Till today, we have had to keep our dead in our homes. But there is no more room there also. I don’t understand what we will do if someone else dies. There are so many graves here now that it feels like there is nowhere for us to live.”

Cover image: A graveyard built in front of a house in Chah Pokhar.

Following images: Panchayat deliberations and the consequent burial site for Mangal Khan.