In a shocking incident that revealed that the plight and predicament of the manual scavengers, four people, who were employed to clean the human excreta in the septic tank, had died due to asphyxiation on Thursday in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi district. 

According to the reports, the deceased men were aged between 20 to 24 and they were hired to clean the tank on Thursday. The deceased were identified as Pandi (24), Bala (23), Dinesh (20), and Isakiraja (20). All four belong to Veeravanallur of Tirunelveli district. They were called by 65-year-old Somasundaram to clean the septic tank at his residence in Keela Chekkarakudi in Thoothukudi district. 

The reports say Pandi, Isakiraja, and Bala worked as manual scavengers and Dinesh joined them on Thursday for a daily wage to meet the financial problem. They started to clean the tank and they had done two rounds of cleaning and at around 2 pm, one of the four men fainted inside the tank after breathing toxic fumes erupted from the waste. 

Upon knowing that he has fainted inside the tank, the rest three got into the tank to save and rescue him. However, all of them went unconscious due to the toxic substance and later they succumbed to the noxious fumes as the incident has been added to the list of deaths claimed by the illegal practice which revealed the plight of humans who were employed to clean and dispose human excreta. 

According to the reports, all four have died around 2.30 pm on Thursday and the local police have lodged an FIR against Somasundaram who employed them. The FIR has been booked against the house owner under sections 304 - (whoever causes the death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide) and Section 288 - (Whoever, in pulling down or repairing any building, knowingly or negligently omits to take such order with that building as is sufficient to guard against any probable danger to human life from the fall of that building, or of any part thereof, shall be punished) of IPC.

He has also been booked under sections 8 and 9 of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers Act, 2014. India has spelled the practice of manual scavenging as illegal under the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines Prohibition Act 1993 and in 2013, the country has adapted another legislation which prohibits the employment of persons as Manual Scavengers.

This legislation bars the grounds of hiring people to clear human excreta and it also spells five years of imprisonment for people who have accused of employing people as manual scavengers. However, this illegal practice has been in practice across the country and claiming lives. According to the 2011 census of India, the country had reported 7,94,000 cases of manual scavenging in its territory and states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan have a high prevalence of manual scavenging.