Two persons died in the city on Saturday in an incident of ‘manual scavenging’ when the duo were tasked with cleaning a well that had been contaminated with putrid water. This is the fifth such incident in the city in over a year.
Gafoor Pasha, 40, and Aftab Pasha, 38, died of asphyxiation when they got into the well behind Bismallah Tea Stall on Nagawara Main Road at K.G. Halli.
The police have booked three people under sections of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, and on a charge of culpable homicide (304A of the IPC). According to the complaint filed by Gafoor’s wife, Haseena Banu, the tea stall owner had been asking Gafoor, who works in the stall, to clean the well where sewage had accumulated for over a week.
Even though Gafoor objected to the task, the stall owner, Naveed, forced him and his friend, Aftab, to enter the well around 10.30 a.m. on Saturday, said Haseena in her complaint to the police.
The men descended into the narrow, 4-ft-diameter well, with the help of ropes. “They were sent into the well, where toxic gases had been emanating, without any safety equipment. Immediately on descending, they were asphyxiated,” she added.
Naveed alerted neighbours of the incident, and eventually Fire and Emergency Services personnel we called in to recover the bodies.
K.G. Halli police have booked Naveed, Jaleel, the owner of the building, and Aseef, an associate of Naveed who was involved in forcing the duo into the well.
Meanwhile, the accused have told the police that the well did not contain sewage, and had only excess rainwater collected over a few months. K.G. Halli police have sent the water sample for testing.
“There is doubt whether it is just stagnant water in the well. Rotting organic waste could be the reason, but toxic fumes are usually associated with sewage. We have taken a report and the water test results will confirm if the labourers were engaged in hazardous cleaning or not,” said Natraj, Secretary, Karnataka State Commission for Safai Karmacharis.
Maitreyi Krishnan, an advocate with Manthan Law, said the law against manual scavenging makes it clear that any manual handling of human waste — even if involves sewage that has come along with rainwater — is manual scavenging.
“We are also glad that the police have filed a culpable homicide case instead of rash and negligent act which has been filed in previous cases. This shows that engaging workers to clean sewage of any kind is akin to murder, and not an accident,” she said.
Published - April 28, 2019 01:36 am IST
