Manual Scavenging at Early Age: a Critical Analysis from the Perspective of Children of Manual Scavengers as Child Labour

Objective: The Children of Manual Scavengers' suffer the socio-legal marginalisation as daily reality. They are legally abandoned, monetarily impoverished, and socially tainted. Due to the caste system, they are compelled to take up their parents' traditional occupation of manually removing human excreta. The hidden reality causes children of manual scavengers to live in constant agony. The aim of this study is to examine the legislative actions and judicial activism to uphold their human dignity and equality throughout their lives and prohibiting manual scavenging. Methods: The research is a type of doctrinal research. It is normative legal research based on analyzing the legal measures, case laws and principles. Results and Conclusion: The children of manual scavengers enter into the traditional occupation of manual scavenging along with their parents as caste forced occupation and suffer the child labour. Moreover, the legislative measures on protection of child rights have not affected in their life. Research Implications: The research highlights that the children of manual scavengers who are engaged in manual scavenging at their early age suffer the deprivation of human rights and dignity.