New Delhi, Oct 15 (IANS): The NHRC has issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government over a report that 200 families were working as manual scavengers in different villages, a statement said Wednesday.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the media report that these people were engaged in cleaning dry toilets in different villages of Badaun district, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the district magistrate, calling for a report within two weeks.
According to the NHRC, most of the manual scavengers were widowed women from the Dalit community who had no other means of earning a livelihood.
The commission said: "We have observed that the contents of the press report, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of human rights of Dalits."
Reportedly, the villages in this district do not have adequate wet toilets forcing people to defecate in the open.