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Mar 10, 2022
Kakkoos: The prevailing illegal practice of manual scavenging
Nyaaya
The 2017 Tamil documentary ‘Kakkoos’ (Toilet) delves into the lives and living conditions of manual scavengers in Tamil Nadu, and how this practice continues even today. However, Indian law banned manual scavenging as far back as 1993.
According to the law, no person, local authority or agency should:
- Construct an insanitary latrine (a latrine which requires manual handling of human excreta);
- Engage or employ a manual scavenger for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or handling human excreta;
- Engage or employ any person for hazardous cleaning of a sewer or a septic tank.
| Crime | Punishment |
| Constructing an insanitary latrine or employing manual scavengers | First offence: Jail time up to one year, and/or a fine up to Rupees fifty thousand.
Subsequent offences: Jail time up to two years, and/or a fine up to Rupees one lakh. |
| Employing people for hazardous cleaning of a sewer or septic tank | First offence: Jail time up to two years and/or a fine up to Rupees two lakh.
Subsequent offences: Jail time up to five years and/or a fine up to Rupees five lakh. |