Shocking video shows a HIV-positive girl 'forced to clean a SEWER with her bare hands' at Hyderabad orphanage

A video which claims to show an HIV-positive orphan being forced to clean out a sewer with her bare hands has been circulating online.



The footage purportedly captures a girl from a Hyderabad orphanage who can be seen standing in a manhole and emptying filthy water from it with a plastic bowl.



According to the Hindustan Times, the girl is from the Ambassadors of Goodwill for AIDS Patients Everywhere (AGAPE) at Gayatrinagar near Boduppal, which is home to more than 200 HIV-positive children left without parents.



The warden and supervisor of the orphanage were arrested by Hyderabad Police on Sunday after the video was brought to the attention of authorities by child rights activists.



Rachakonda commissioner Mahesh Bhagwath told the Times of India: 'A case has been lodged under Section 14 of Child Labour Act, 1986, and Section 73 of JJ Act at police station against the warden. She was taken into custody. She often used children for daily chores and cleaning of drains.'



The short video shows a young girl chest deep in a manhole and collecting filthy water from it before pouring it on the soil beside her.



She is surrounded by at least five other girls wearing gloves, and some masks, who were also involved in the appalling task.



The Andhra Pradesh Child Rights Association (CRA) on Monday has called on the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to take action against the orphanage.



CRAP President P Achuyta Rao told the Hindustan Times: 'This is nothing but the blatant violation of child rights. It is all the more a big crime because the Supreme Court has banned manual scavenging in the country.



'We shall not rest till the orphanage is closed and the children are shifted to state-run home at Yousufguda.'



Earlier this year, the Supreme Court has promised to lay down guidelines under the Right to Education Act to protect children with HIV.



According to a study by Naz Foundation and Lawyers Collective working for the rehabilitation of victims of HIV/AIDS, there are thousands of students in India who are suffering silently - and being forced into chores like cleaning school toilets.



The NGO found that children living with or affected by HIV/AIDS are increasingly being denied admission, suspended, expelled and segregated in classrooms, they are being publicly ridiculed by school authorities.