Orphanage forces HIV+ girls to clean sewer

The warden and supervisor of an orphanage — which houses over 200 HIV+ children — were arrested on Sunday after a video showing a girl cleaning a manhole with her bare hands went viral on social media.

Child rights activists and political parties have demanded stern action against the orphanage.

The video shows the girl from Ambassadors of Goodwill for AIDS Patients Everywhere (AGAPE) at Gayatrinagar on the city’s outskirts with her face covered by a scarf, getting into a manhole and removing muck from the sewer with a mug.

There are at least five other girls wearing gloves around the manhole who were also involved in manual scavenging.

A person is heard asking the girl to remove the muck quickly. India has passed several laws to end manual scavenging, with the government pledging to modernise sanitation to end the manual disposal of faeces as well as criminalising employing anyone to do so.

Rachakonda commissioner of police Mahesh Bhagawat said the warden of the orphanage, Yellagiri Prajavathi, 45, and supervisor G Elavarasan, 36, were arrested.

“A case was filed against them under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act and Section 3 read with 14 of the child labour act,” Bhagawat said.

The Andhra Pradesh Child Rights Association on Monday filed a petition with National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), seeking action against the orphanage .

Child Rights Association president P Achuyta Rao told HT that the authorities were forcing them to do household chores, besides manual scavenging works.

“This is blatant violation of child rights. We shall not rest till the orphanage is closed and the kids shifted to state-run home at Yousufguda,” Rao said.

A probe has been ordered into the case.