Five Years Post Death of Two Manual Scavengers, Bombay HC Asks State to Pay Rs 30 Lakh to Each Family

New Delhi: The Bombay high court on Monday (July 6), about five years after two men died while cleaning a septic tank without protective gear, ordered the state to pay a compensation of Rs 30 lakh each to the family of the deceased.

Describing the still prevalent practice of manual scavenging as "a serious blot on a civilised society," an Aurangabad division bench comprising Justices N.B. Suryawanshi and Vaishali Patil-Jadhav said the deaths reflected a "collective failure to completely eradicate this inhuman and degrading practice."

According to an Instagram post by advocate Abha Singh, who appeared on behalf of the plaintiffs, the high court invoked the Supreme Court's 2023 judgment in Balram Singh v. Union of India, which raised the compensation for septic tank deaths to Rs 30 lakh from the earlier mandated amount of Rs 10 lakh under the apex court's landmark 2014 Safai Karamchari Andolan v. Union of India judgment under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. The act criminalises the employment of any person for manual cleaning of open drains, latrines and septic tanks and necessitates adequate protective gear in instances where cleaning is unavoidable.

While enhancing the compensation amount, the bench made it unequivocally clear that "no one should enter a sewer line in 21st century India." The bench also quoted B.R. Ambedkar: "For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power; it is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality," reinforcing that manual scavenging is inconsistent with the dignity, equality and fraternity guaranteed under Articles 15, 17, 21, 23 and 24 of the constitution.

Justice Patil-Jadhav further directed the state to see, within three months, if they were eligible for rehabilitation under the special law, as per a TOI report.

In her social media post, Singh observed that the judgment was not merely about compensation and reaffirmed the belief that "four years after a life is lost to a practice the law has long banned, the constitution still finds a way to answer."

The petition

On September 19, 2021, two daily wagers, Maroti Chopwad and Nagesh Ghumalwad, died of asphyxia and drowning while cleaning a private septic tank in Ashoknagar, Mukhed taluka of Nanded district. The men had been working without protective gear or legal authorisation.

The incident led to a writ petition in March 2024 filed by Singh, who demanded accountability and compensation from the Maharashtra government for the deceased's grieving families after years of half-paid compensation, denied liability and "a machinery that moved too slowly for those who had already lost everything."

The petition highlighted that the employers had not sought any formal permission from local authorities for directing the hazardous work and no precautionary equipment was provided, as is mandated under the 2013 Act in cases where cleaning is unavoidable.

Singh further stated that a first information report had been lodged in November 2021 under the 2013 Act and that the widow and mother of the two victims had sought compensation from the Nanded collector, reported TOI.