Dubai: A seven-year-old boy walked up to his father’s dead body at a crematorium in Delhi. He moved the sheet covering his father’s face and touched his cheeks with both hands.
Indian journalist Shiv Sunny shared the heartbreaking picture and tweeted: “The boy... held [his father’s] cheeks with both hands, just said ‘papa’ and began sobbing.”
The boy walked up to his father's body at a crematorium, moved the sheet from the face, held the cheeks with both hands, just said 'papa' & began sobbing.
— Shiv Sunny (@shivsunny) September 17, 2018
The man was yet another poor labourer who died in a Delhi sewer on Friday. Family did not have money even for cremating him. pic.twitter.com/4nOWD9Aial
Sunny added: “The man was yet another poor labourer who died in a Delhi sewer on Friday. The family did not have money even for cremating him.”
Sunny’s tweet which went viral on social media, moved Indians to raise over Rs3 million (Dh151,645) for the family in a single day.
The deceased man was Anil, a 37-year-old labourer who had died of asphyxiation while cleaning a sewer in Delhi, India’s capital city.
According to the Indian newspaper Hindustan Times: “Anil, a labourer was lowered into a 20-foot deep sewer by a ‘weak’ rope tied to his waist which snapped midway. Satbir Kala, a local resident, privately hired Anil for cleaning the sewer line and had allegedly ignored warnings that the rope being used for the labourers’ safety was weak and could snap.”
Even though manual scavenging work is banned by law in India, the problem persists. According to a news website News18: “On September 10, five men had lost their lives inside a sewage treatment plant in Moti Nagar in west Delhi. Their deaths were also attributed to a lack of protective gear.”
Indian journalist @vikramchandra tweeted: “It’s a national shame that in 2018 humans still have to go into sewers with no protective clothing.”
It’s a national shame that in 2018 humans still have to go into sewers with no protective clothing. At the last Cleanathon joined @SrBachchan in pledging to keep fighting till this is eradicated. Pls help with your ideas and suggestions. https://t.co/hBMLW7fSjw
— Vikram Chandra (@vikramchandra) September 17, 2018
News reports also state that Anil lived with his wife Rani and three children – aged 11, seven and three – in a rented room in Dabri Extension. Just a week before his death, the family had lost their four-month-old son to pneumonia, due to lack of money to buy medicines.
Sunny’s post was retweeted over 13,000 times.
Twitter user @Sushrre_m posted: “Heartbreaking picture, can’t control my tears seeing this picture.”
The journalist later tweeted the boy’s mother’s account details for people to help with donations. The tweet was soon seen by Ketto, a popular Indian crowdfunding platform that raises funds for personal needs, charitable causes, and creative ideas.
@ketto set up a crowdfunding page for the family and tweeted: “Hi, you can support the family with a generous donation. Also, please retweet the same as it will help the family receive more funds. Thank you.”
37 y/o labourer died of asphyxiation while cleaning a #Delhi Jal Board sewer. He was lowered 20 ft deep in a sewer by a weak rope which snapped leading to his demise just 6 days after his 4 m/o son died of pneumonia. #TuesdayThoughts https://t.co/7g684fzz8N
— Ketto (@ketto) September 18, 2018
Help started pouring in. By Wednesday, the page showed that 2,359 people had raised over Rs5.2 million to help the family.
@shivsunny tweeted: “By sharing the picture of that boy crying next to his father’s body, I was only doing my job as a reporter. But I am overwhelmed by the goodness of people... I now hope the children will eat better and have a future.”
