Mumbai: Topaz Bar owner, staff held for endangering manual scavenger's life

The infamous Topaz bar in Grant Road is in the news for all the wrong reasons again, after its owner and three employees were arrested for employing a manual scavenger to clean a drain outside the bar. This is the same bar where notorious fraudster Abdul Karim Telgi once splurged a dizzying Rs 93 lakh on his favourite dancer Tarannum.

According to the DB Marg police, the FIR was registered on Thursday night on the basis of a complaint submitted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The matter was first brought to the BMC’s notice by advocate Abha Singh, who has been championing the cause of manual scavengers through a Public Interest Litigation filed last year.

On July 7 this year, Adv Singh tweeted a picture of a manual scavenger inside a deep drain outside the Topaz Bar, with three of the bar employees standing on the road.

“In spite of manual scavenging being banned, it continues,” Adv Singh had tweeted, tagging the BMC and the office of the Maharashtra Chief Minister.

The civic body took cognisance of the matter and a team was sent to the spot to conduct inquiries. After talking to local shopkeepers, the BMC team ascertained that the picture was from outside the Topaz Bar. Subsequently, on Thursday night, Anil Kirodian, an Assistant Engineer with the BMC’s D-ward, submitted a complaint to the DB Marg police station, under whose jurisdiction the bar is located.

“We registered an FIR against the bar owner and the three employees seen in the picture and arrested them on Friday. They have been charged with endangering life or personal safety through rash and negligent conduct under the Indian Penal Code, along with the Prevention of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013,” said senior police inspector Pradeep Khude, DB Marg police station.

Adv Singh expressed happiness at the development, saying, that the incident was a clear violation in light of the Bombay High Court’s guidelines.

“There are machines available for sewage drain cleaning and you just need to contact the BMC for it. Why should someone’s poverty become the cause of their death? There can not be two Indias where on one hand people spurge thousands of rupees on liquor while on the other hand you give someone Rs 500 and put their lived in danger,” Adv Singh said.