The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report, published with a photograph, showing a labourer cleaning a manhole without protective gear on Santhom High Road in Tamil Nadu's Chennai city on October 25 after the city received heavy rainfall.
Reportedly, a group of labourers was spotted going down the manholes to clean them on that day despite legislation that prohibited the employment of manual scavengers.
According to the media report, carried on the 27th October, the abhorrent practice continued unchecked in many parts of the city.
Considering it as a serious violation of human rights, a notice has been issued to the Government of Tamil Nadu, through its Chief Secretary calling for a report on the steps taken to implement the
provisions of the Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, within a period of eight weeks.
The commission has observed that manual scavenging violates fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution of India against discrimination on the basis of caste. It is inhuman and considered to be one of the worst surviving symbols of untouchability.
The people engaged in manual scavenging are Dalits, who are still considered untouchables by many people.
The Commission has also said it viewed the prevalence of manual scavenging as a serious intrusion on human dignity and abolition of this practice should be taken up as a national mission.
The Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 seeks to ensure prohibition of employment of manual scavengers. It appears that the concerned authorities are
totally indifferent to these responsibilities and allows such inhuman practice.
