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A 40-year-old Dalit manual scavenger died on Sunday, June 8, after he accidentally slipped into a manhole while trying to clean a sewage in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district.

The incident occurred behind the Tiruchendur Government Hospital. The deceased has been identified as Sudalaimani, who hailed from Tirunelveli district.

Sudalaimani worked as a contract worker. On Sunday, he along with other sanitation workers, was deployed by the Tiruchendur municipality to clear a blockade in an underground drainage system located behind the hospital.

While trying to enter the manhole, Sudalaimani slipped and fell inside. Although he was pulled up by the fire and rescue team and rushed to the government hospital, doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

A case under section 194 (accidental death) was registered. However, there is mention of death due to manual scavenging, The News Minute reported.

Manual scavenging in India

The Manmohan Singh-led UPA government introduced the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, banning all forms of manual scavenging, including the handling of human excreta, in India. It is a cognizable and non-bailable offence.

However, under Section 2(g) of the Act, a manual scavenger is defined as a person who manually cleans, carries, disposes of, or handles human excreta from insanitary latrines, open drains, or pits connected to such latrines, as well as from railway tracks or similar locations.

Importantly, this definition does not cover those working in sewers or septic tanks and further states that workers who use protective equipment are not considered manual scavengers.

In 2014, the Supreme Court ordered compensation of Rs 10 lakh to families of those who died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks.

In January this year, the top court banned manual scavenging in all major cities – Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Mumbai – and warned criminal action against officers or contractors still engaging in it.