BENGALURU: A 31-year-old labourer, who developed breathing issues while cleaning a manhole at Akshaya Nagar in RMC Yard police limits on Sunday, died at home on Monday morning.
The deceased is Puttaswamy of RMC Yard.
Four people have been arrested on charges of engaging Puttaswamy for manual scavenging despite a ban on it.
According to police, one of the accused, Nagaraju, hired Puttaswamy and Antony, a daily wager, to clean the clogged manhole. The duo entered the manhole around 7 pm without any safety gear. They developed breathing issues after inhaling toxic gases inside the manhole. Though Puttaswamy and Antony came out of the manhole, they were not given any medical help.
On Monday morning, he was found dead. His body has been sent for postmortem, the police said. Based on a complaint by Puttaswamy’s father, a case has been registered against Nagaraju, Antony, Ananthkumar and Devaraju for persuading Puttaswamy to enter the manhole. Antony has been booked for taking Puttaswamy to clean the manhole.
The four have been booked under The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act and Section 106 (causing death by negligence) of BNS.
According to Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment report 2024, the state-wise number of identified manual scavengers in Karnataka are 2,927. In February 2023, two manual scavengers died while cleaning an STP near Kanakapura, on the city outskirts. Bengaluru has the highest manual scavenging deaths in the state.
What does law say?
As per Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, no person or agency can engage or employ any person for manual scavenging and any person or agency who engages in manual scavenging is punishable with imprisonment up to 2 years or a fine up to Rs one lakh or both.
