Goa, June 16 -- JOHN DAYAL

Amid the constant noise and near normalising of persecution against religious minorities in India, why does the denial of burial to Christians by villagers in Chhattisgarh-and in pockets elsewhere- stir anger, not just in the wider Christian community but also from or dinary Hindus and Judges on the benches of the Supreme Court? This is not selective out rage of a few, but something profoundly positive, revealing that even in a deeply polarised climate, a basic sense of shared humanity endures. Disrespect ing the dead crosses a line that routine violence or social boy cott sometimes fails to breach, moving the collective Indian conscience in a manner few other injustices can. Chhattisgarh has witnessed repeated...