Manual Scavenger Death Sparks Outrage, Netizens Raise Lakhs for KinTop Stories

September 20, 2018 12:11
Manual Scavenger Death Sparks Outrage, Netizens Raise Lakhs for Kin

(Image source from: Al Jazeera)

Photographs of a boy shedding tears next to the body of his father who died while cleaning a sewer earlier this week in New Delhi prompted social media users to raise nearly $70,000 to support the family.

The photos, tweeted by a New Delhi-based journalist on Monday, showed the 11-year-old child weeping next to his father Anil at a local crematorium.

The 37-year-old Anil, a "manual scavenger" - or worker who cleans sewers by hand and often without proper equipment - died on Friday when the rope around his waist snapped, causing his fall into the seven-meter deep sewer. Police told the local media the rope was incapable to bear his weight.

"The boy walked up to his father's body at a crematorium, moved the sheet from the face, held the cheeks with both hands, just said 'papa' & began sobbing," posted journalist Shiv Sunny, who works for an English-language newspaper in New Delhi, along with the photographs on Twitter.

"The man was yet another poor laborer who died in a Delhi sewer on Friday. The family did not have money for cremating him," the journalist added in his post, which was shared more than 15,000 times so far.

Local media reports said Anil was the only earning member in his family and is survived by his wife and three children. The family lost an infant daughter to pneumonia last week.

The practice of manual scavenging continues in India despite a 2013 Supreme Court ban.

The death angered many in India. About six such deaths took place in New Delhi last week, 11 across the country.

According to a report released earlier this week by the National Commission for Safai Karamacharis, a government agency said one manual scavenger has died every five days in India since January 1, 2017.

As soon as Sunny posted the pictures on Twitter, social media users began writing back to him, asking how they could assist the family. He shared their bank details, and money started trickling in shortly as more people, including a famous film actor, shared his post.

Soon, a crowdfunding campaign was launched by Rahul Verma, founder of a non-government organization called Uday Foundation, with the help of Ketto, a crowdfunding platform. He said the campaign has so far raised nearly $70,000 (five million rupees).

Activist Bezwada Wilson, who launched the Safai Karmachari Andolan - a campaign against manual scavenging - in 1995, told Al Jazeera there is no political will to end the practice, which primarily engages the lowest rungs of the Dalit caste.

By Sowmya Sangam

If you enjoyed this Post, Sign up for Newsletter

(And get daily dose of political, entertainment news straight to your inbox)

Rate This Article
(0 votes)