Muslims of Ramanathapura in Arkalgud taluk have got an acre of land granted for a burial ground, following a decade-long struggle. The people staged dharnas and appealed to the officers concerned many times, but finally got the demand fulfilled after they moved the court.

Following the High Court of Karnataka’s direction, the Hassan district administration on December 11 issued an order granting one acre of land to the community at Survey No. 17 of Bilaguli village near Ramanathapura. Sixteen members of the community have died in the last 10 years, and they were all buried in different places. The Hindu had carried a story on the problems of the community in January 2017.

At least 85 Muslim families live in the village. Earlier, Ibrahim Sab, a resident of the village, had earmarked a portion of his private land to bury the dead of his community. Over the years, his children sold the property and moved out of the village. Since then, there has been no land to bury the dead.

In recent years, many were laid to rest in Konanur, Kattepura, Hassan and Bengaluru, among other places. In 2011, people staged a dharna with a body in front of the Nada Kacheri (a Revenue Department office) in Ramanathapura demanding a burial ground.

“Whenever somebody dies in our village, we would request the community people in the neighbouring villages to allow us to use their burial ground. Sometimes they too opposed as the land available there was also insufficient”, said Mohammed Iqbal, a retired government official and advocate who moved the High Court.

The court, in its order on March 2, 2018, directed the State government to grant the land. The land allotted is part of grazing land (gomala) of 79 acres and 25 guntas.