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A three-judge bench consisting of Hon'ble Justices Arun Mishra, MR Shah, and BR Gavai in the Supreme Court on September 18 expressed serious concern over people dying during manual scavenging and sewage cleaning in India, and stated that nowhere in the world people are sent to "gas chambers to die". The apex court made these hard-hitting observations at the time of hearing the Centre's plea seeking review of its last year's verdict which had virtually diluted the provisions of arrest under the SC/ST Act. While making scathing observations, the highest court said that though more than 70 years have passed since Independence, caste discrimination still persists in the country. A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra questioned Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre.
One person has died each 5 days, on an average, while cleaning sewers and septic tanks across the country, according to numbers collated by the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK), the statutory body that was discovered by associate degree Act of Parliament for the welfare of sanitation employees.The data, which is based mostly on newspaper reports and numbers supplied by a couple of state governments, is the first such official attempt to account for the deaths of sewer and septic tank cleaners.
According to NCSK, 123 people employed in hazardous forms of manual scavenging lost their lives while at work since January 2017. The last one week alone has seen a complete of six deaths within the capital region. Officials concerned within the exercise admit, however, that even this range may be a gross under-estimation, considering the dearth of information. e mask and oxygen cylinders were not being provided to people who are engaged in manual scavenging and cleaning of sewage or manholes.
The Supreme Court has reserved its orders to the Centre's petition seeking review of its March 20, 2018, judgment which had virtually diluted provisions of arrest under the SC/ST Act. Last year, the Supreme Court had introduced safeguards to prevent misuse of the SC/ST Act. It had held that prior sanction of the appointing authority is required for prosecuting officers for acts done by them with respect to the SC/ST Act in their official capacity. This had led to the Centre filing a review petition against the judgment and had subsequently brought about an amendment seeking to invalidate the judgment in 2018. The amendment itself was subsequently challenged in the Supreme Court. The bench will hear the challenge next week against the 2018 amendment brought to the SC/ST Act.
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