Ujjain: Elderly man slapped, forced to clean faeces by hand for open defecation

Ujjain: An elderly man was allegedly beaten up by sanitation workers for open defecation who also forced him to sanitise the place, following which three employees of Ujjain Municipal Corporation have been suspended.

The purported incident occurred at Sunahri Ghat in Ujjain on Wednesday when teams comprising UMC employees were conducting a campaign, “Roko Toko” to shame people spotted reliving themselves in open by blowing a whistle.

In the clip, the old man is seen getting slapped and is forced to clean up faeces using his hands and ‘dhoti’ purportedly by some members of the Open Defection Free (ODF) squad.

“We have suspended three employees including a sanitary inspector after a two-member inquiry committee of additional commissioners Vishal Chouhan and Sanjay Mehta submitted its report,” UMC Commissioner Ashish Singh said.

The report was sought by Urban Administration Department’s Principal Secretary Malay Shrivastava after the video went viral on social media.

“The incident occurred on December 28 at Sunahri Ghat. The elderly man in the video is Gangaram, a resident of neighbouring Chitaman Jawasiya village,” the civic chief added.

The trio are identified as sanitary inspector Mukesh Sarwan and two sanitary workers Luky and Rahul.

PTI