HC take cognisance of media report on manual scavenging in K'taka, says it is 'shame on humanity'
Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday took cognizance of a newspaper report on prevalence of manual scavenging in the state and termed it as a "shame on humanity".
A division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit appointed advocate Sridhar Prabhu as amicus curiae and directed him to file a public interest litigation (PIL) with the Registry, which will place it before the bench for hearing on January 8.
The court remarked that the incidents mentioned in the report shook its conscience.
"After more than 60 years still somebody who is our brother in society merely due to his misfortune, he took birth in a particular community, carrying the stamp of one caste is required to do these things. Is it not a shame on humanity? Is this what we all are here for?" it asked.
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Though the country is proud of its technical advancements, the bench said there is no change in the mindset of people.
"Why are we making our brothers do these things when there are technical advancements to clean the pits but there is no change in the mindset?" Machines could be employed for manual scavenging which cost only Rs 2,000 per hour, the bench pointed out.
Referring to ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission, the bench said, "You can't sleep with this. You just can't be concentrating or anything when these things are still happening in society when on one hand, for rightful reasons, we say we reached the moon just two months back. We are proud of it. Same time, we are not treating our brothers as human beings,'' ''Is it not a shame? Is this what we all are here for? Merely because somebody is facing financial difficulty is he to lead a life as bad as an animal?" the Court questioned.
Quoting Ramon Magsaysay award winner and an activist fighting to eliminate manual scavenging, the HC said, "Today a person residing in the smallest villages in Karnataka is aware of Swach Bharat Abhiyan, but people still say they know nothing of the manual scavenging Act.'' ''What happened in Kolar is a crime. The government should stop the caste drama. The Constitution also says there should be no discrimination. Malur was only a representation of what was happening on the ground. In 2023 alone, there have been 93 deaths of manual scavengers across India," it added.
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UP: Misled by GPS navigation, car falls into river from partially constructed bridge, 3 dead
Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.
The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.
"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.
The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.
There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.
Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.
The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.
— Bareilly Police (@bareillypolice) November 24, 2024
