In a shameful incident, a 17-year-old boy, Siddappa, died of asphyxiation after he was made to enter a sewage chamber in Bengaluru. Fifty-year-old Marianna, who went in to rescue Siddappa, is critical and is admitted to a hospital. The incident took place in Infantry Road, Bengaluru on Saturday, 25 January.

Siddappa is a resident of Kacharakanahalli near Lingarajapuram. According to Siddappa’s neighbours, on Saturday, Marianna, a labour contractor approached Sidappa and hired him to clear the debris at a building which is managed by SSBS Jain Sangh Trust. Siddappa was promised Rs 600 as wages for the job. However, against the work promised – and against the law banning manual scavenging work in India – Siddappa was made to clean the sewage chamber.