Bengaluru: 3 booked for forcing Dalit employee to enter manhole at private hospital

Three staffers of a private hospital in Bengaluru were booked for allegedly forcing a 53-year-old Dalit employee to clean a clogged manhole at the hospital, police said Tuesday.

According to the complaint, when the employee refused to enter the manhole, the accused threatened to terminate him from his services. Afraid of losing his job, the man risked his life and entered the manhole.

A week later on December 9, he approached an NGO, Samata Sainik Dal, and on December 15, a complaint was lodged at the Halasuru police station.

The complaint was also forwarded to the police station by Madhusudhana K N, assistant director of the state social welfare department following which, an FIR was registered against housekeeping supervisors Raja D and Gilbert and the administrator of the healthcare facility.

The case was lodged under Section 3(1)(j) of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act-1989 and Sections 7, 8, and 9 of the Prohibition of Manual Scavenging and Rehabilitation Act, 2013.

Senior investigating officer of Halasuru police station Kumar said, “The man is a permanent employee of the hospital and has been working for the last 21 years. He was asked to enter a manhole and clean the sewers in the hospital premises.”