Principal, art teacher of Karnataka residential school held for engaging 6 students in manual scavenging

Bharathamma and the school’s art teacher Muniyappa were, after arrest, produced before a magistrate who remanded them in judicial custody.

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The allegations

“Principal Bharthamma, art teacher Muniyappa, guest teacher Abhishek, another teacher Manjunath, and a sweeper named Kalavathi have been booked under sections of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,” Superintendent of Police M Narayan told South First.

“A separate case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has been registered against Muniyappa, who videographed girl students while they were at their hostel, intruding on their privacy,” he added.

Meanwhile, the state’s Social Welfare Department officials who visited and inspected the school on 17 December Sunday conducted inquiries with the students and confirmed that the school authorities had engaged students in manual scavenging.

The officials also learnt that around three of the six students who were engaged in manual scavenging work belonged to Dalit families.

The officials also inspected the living conditions of the students at the hostel, the quality of the food offered, and toilet facilities.

During their interaction with their students, they learnt that the teachers also meted out corporal punishment.

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The incident

According to the jurisdictional Masthi police, the cleaning incident happened on 1 December.

Muniyappa summoned six students belonging to Standard 7 and Standard 9 and ordered them to clean one of the chambers of the septic tank.

Two students had to descend into the soak pit to clean the chambers. They complained that they were feeling suffocated, but they were forced to continue.

One of them sustained an injury to the hand while at work, police sources told South First.

The entire cleaning was supervised by Muniyappa, while Abhishek and Manjunath were also present at the spot, along with Bharathamma and Kalavathi.

Muniyappa clicked photographs and even videographed the students cleaning the septic tank, and later uploaded them on social media, the police said.

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Action against teachers

The matter came to the notice of the Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society (KREIS) and other authorities after the photographs and video of the incident began circulating on social media platforms.

Soon after the inspection of the Social Welfare Department officials on Sunday, the school principal and two of the male teachers were placed under suspension pending an inquiry.

One of the male teachers was suspended over the POCSO Act allegations, while the other was suspended for meting out corporal punishment, the officials said.

Meanwhile, the Kolar district police said that ₹25,000 has been set apart for such cleaning works to be taken up at the residential school.

The police, upon probing further, found that mechanised cleaning was carried out earlier, but there were some leftover works which were carried out by the six students at the instruction of Muniyappa, who kept the principal in the know, a senior police officer told South First.

Kolar’s district in-charge minister Byrati Suresh visited the school and took stock of the situation. Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment A Narayanswamy also visited the school on Monday.

The district administration has decided that the entire staff of the school would be transferred, and a new set of teachers and a new principal would be appointed at the earliest.