Public health activists have called for a high-level probe into the reported public lynching of Zafar Hussain, a 55-year-old social worker of Pratapgarh in Rajasthan, allegedly by municipal employees linked to the government’s ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ (SBA), and have sought an immediate a halt to the strategy of ‘name and shame’ linked to the SBA.
“This is not an isolated incident but a consequence of the SBA’s ‘name and shame strategy’ where personnel linked to the programme organise vigilante squads that hound individuals they find violating the programme’s objectives,” the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, a coalition of health groups, said in a statement on Monday, adding that it was keen on supporting any participatory process designed to secure universal access to sanitation facilities
The activists said instances of vigilante actions were being reported from many parts of the country, adding that “as the bulk of people who do not have domestic latrines or access to community latrines are poor, this strategy has become an excuse for victimising the poor.” It also expressed concern over the assault on privacy of individuals (especially of women) through photographing or videography “that has been legitimised by the government as part of SBA”’.
As per the statement, “Zafar had in the past submitted a memorandum against the harassment of women by civic officials, which included bullying and shaming of women blamed of defecating in the open, taking their pictures, running after women, taking away their water mugs and abusing them while they defecated.”
Pointing out that SBA was flagship programme of the government and very high on the priority list, the statement noted that “there was a “huge gap between rhetoric and delivery as evident from the meagre increase in allocation in the Union Budget for water and sanitation programs, especially a decline in real terms of allocation to water supply in rural areas.”