Child dies in open manhole: Delhi corporation gets notice

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognizance of media reports that a four-year-old boy died after he slipped into an open manhole in Jaitpur in southeast Delhi on Wednesday evening.

The body, however, could be fished out only Thursday morning after rescue work by the Delhi Police and the Delhi Fire Service.

The NHRC observed that the media report, if true, seriously violated the human rights of the child and issued a notice to the Commissioner, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, calling for a report within two weeks.

The victim, Gurpreet, and his grandmother had returned from Punjab and reached their home by a cyclerickshaw. While his grandmother was busy paying off the rickshaw puller, Gurpreet broke free of the grandmother and ran towards the house in excitement, media reports said.

There was no power in the area at that time and the child could not spot the open manhole and slipped into it, the reports said.