The Centre has said that “manual scavenging” be treated as a criminal offence which can attract up to five years jail for persons who “violate the dignity of a member of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe” by making him indulge in this “shameful practice’’.
After concerns raised by Congress president Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, the Centre has asked states to treat manual scavenging as a criminal offence saying that “any act done to violate the dignity of a member of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe by a non-Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe person would amount to an offence under Section 3 of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989”.
The ministry of home affairs, last week , shot off advisories to all state governments and ministries concerned including railways, social justice, tribal affairs, women and child development and girector generals/inspector generals (in charge of prisons) in all states and Union Territories saying that all cases of manual scavenging may be pursued under appropriate sections of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Act.
“It may be noted that engaging or employing a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe to clean, handle or carrying human excreta amounts to violating his or her dignity and therefore may fall within the ambit of Section 3 of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Act,’’ the advisory said.
The particular section deals with punishment for offences of atrocities committed against SC/STs by non-Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe members stipulating a minimum of six months and maximum five years imprisonment and fine for “indulging in acts derogatory to human dignity.’’
The home ministry noted that state governments and Union Territories are “generally lax’’ in the enforcement of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993.
It said that manual scavenging still persists in India and despite being outlawed , almost no one has been punished in 17 years of the existence of the aforesaid law.
The NAC advisory also reiterated the Union government’s commitment towards adopting measures for the protection of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
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Death toll rises to 8, 86 arrested
Akshaya Kumar Sahoo
Bhubaneswar
May 1: The Orissa police on Sunday revised the death toll to eight in Friday night’s carnage at Sindhiguda village under Badagada police station in Ganjam district and took into custody as many as 86 persons who were allegedly involved in the ghastly crime.
The nabbed accused were forwarded to court which later sent them to judicial custody.
“At least 86 people were arrested and many others detained for Friday’s carnage at Badgagad village. Those found to be involved in the gruesome incident will be booked,” Ganjam superintendent of police Nitinjit Singh said.
On Friday night, a mob of around two hundred people chased and burnt alive eight people in 15X12 feet tin-roofed concrete shed at a stone crusher unit. Several villagers on Sunday staged a dharna.