While the state of Tamil Nadu is in the plight of recording the most number of deaths in the country due to Manual Scavenging for the past five years, the state has seemingly been under the uncertainty as this inhumane practice has claimed the life of 25-year-old man in Chennai.

On Tuesday morning, when the 25-year-old, one among the five workers involved in cleaning the septic tank at the Express Avenue Mall, trying to rescue his brother from the septic tank has died due to the toxic gases. The initial inquiry has revealed that he was part of the group of manual scavengers who have been hired by a private agency to execute the illegal and inhumane work of removing human excreta, cleaning the drainages and septic tanks.

The Anna Salai police department, which rushed to the spot, stated that the five men Arunkumar, Ranjithkumar, Yuvaraj, Sreenath, and Ajithkumar were reportedly taken to the Express Mall by a man identified as Dhandapani around 4 am to clean the septic tank. The reports say that Ranjithkumar had entered the tank first and while he was cleaning the tank, he suddenly lost his consciousness due to the toxic gases.

After seeing his brother being succumbed inside the tank, 25-year-old Arunkumar jumped into the tank to rescue and to recover his brother. After getting in the tank, Arunkumar had somehow let his brother out of the tank while he was severely affected by the gases that had claimed his life. After he passed away, his body was taken to Royapettah government hospital to perform the autopsy.

While being reported with the matter, the Anna Salai police have been probing the case but it failed to disclose the details on whether the case has been filled with the first information report. His death had poured in more uncertainty and more possibilities of deaths due to performing the dehumanizing and illegal practice and the uncertainty has been oiled by the state government's inability and failure of mechanisms to ban manual scavenging in the state.

His death shockingly recalls the report released by the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athwale in Lok Sabha last February on the total deaths in the country caused due to manual scavenging. The state of Tamil Nadu tops the table for recording about 144 deaths in the last five years from 2013 to 2018 while Uttar Pradesh ranked second with 71 deaths that had shown Tamil Nadu has been accounted for with double the number of deaths in Uttar Pradesh. Through tabling the reports, the minister had stated that the state government of Tamil Nadu had awarded ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the victims in 141 cases.