Bene Israel community fight to save historic Jabalpur cemetery from land grab, desecration

Two hundred Jewish families had once lived in the city. However, following Indian independence, most left for Israel. Now, only three or four Jews remain.

The local community says that the cemetery has been repeatedly damaged, with graves desecrated, boundary walls broken, and the main gate stolen.

According to the media outlet Bhaskar, an elderly Jewish resident of Jabalpur, Daniel Abraham, visited the cemetery in 2021 and found the damage, prompting him to file a petition with the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) court. He accused a local resident, Lakhan Kevat, of attempting to encroach upon the land.

Following an official inquiry, authorities confirmed that the land was recorded in government documents as cemetery property allotted decades ago. Then, on April 14, 2025, the SDM court ruled in favor of the Jewish community, ordering the restoration of possession and directing Kevat to neither interfere with cemetery land nor harass the community.

Kevat challenged the decision in the district court, but the district court upheld the SDM’s order. He has now approached the High Court, filing a petition on June 3, 2026, claiming ownership of the land.

Kevat is arguing that he has full legal documentation proving his ownership of the land. According to Bhaskar, he also argues that the land being claimed by the Jewish community has long been under his possession and will be defended in the High Court.

Advocate Manish Verma, representing the Jewish side, said: “Lakhan Kevat and his son, Shashank Kevat, who live in the area, are attempting to seize the cemetery land. They have also damaged several memorial stones placed on the graves in an effort to erase the evidence and identifying markers.”

He added that the court had previously ruled in favor of the Jewish community, ordering that the community’s rights over the land would remain protected and that it should continue to enjoy peaceful possession of the property.

“Despite this, with the intention of taking over the land, the land mafia is claiming that it is private property and has taken the matter to the High Court,” he said. “The case will now proceed through further court hearings.”

According to Ynet, members of the Indian Jewish community in Israel have sent a letter addressed to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, the Chief Rabbinate, the Foreign Ministry, and the Israeli and Indian diplomatic missions, calling for urgent diplomatic and legal intervention.

According to the letter, the desecration of the gravestones represents “a blatant trampling of fundamental values, Jewish law, and international law.”

The community is calling on the Israeli government to do the following: to launch a joint investigation with the Indian authorities into the circumstances surrounding the damage to the cemetery; to consider the possibility of transferring the remains of the late Sagi Diwakar for Jewish burial in Israel; and to prevent the gravestones from being brought into Israel.

“This affair is a test of our values, our nationhood, and our morality,” the letter reads, according to Ynet.

“Delays, indifference, or passive cooperation with attempts to cover up what has happened will amount to abandoning the dignity of deceased Jews and Jewish war dead, and will inflict irreversible damage on our historical memory.”

The Heritage of Bene Israel Indian Jews Center has also proposed a detailed plan for the conservation of the cemetery.

Viewed by The Jerusalem Post, it asks, among other things, for the issuance of a final certification by the Jabalpur Municipal Corporation and the Revenue Department identifying the land explicitly as a Jewish cemetery reserved for burial and Jewish post-death religious practices. It also requests the installation of 2-3 CCTV cameras with two-way audio covering all graves, as well as the restoration of the wall.

According to the Heritage of Bene Israel Indian Jews Center, the Jewish community of Jabalpur was among the oldest and most distinctive in India.

It said that community members arrived in Jabalpur from the Konkan region during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, establishing an active Jewish community that preserved its traditions, identity, and values for generations.

For decades, Jewish communal life flourished in Jabalpur, including prayers, holidays, family celebrations, and Jewish education. Most community members immigrated to Israel during the major waves of aliyah in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, only a few members of the original community remain in the city.

Among the community’s prominent families is the Judah-Astamkar family, which includes well-known Indian-Jewish writer and playwright Sophie Judah. Another is the Mordecai-Borgaonkar family, which included Lt. Gen. Russell Jacob Mordecai, one of the highest-ranking Jewish officers in the history of the Indian Army.