Bengaluru: A group of students, all belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) communities, were allegedly forced to clean a septic tank purportedly used for human waste disposal, at a residential school in Kolar district of Karnataka, prompting the state administration to suspend the principal and three staffers of the school, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

The incident at Morarji Desai Residential School in Yaluvahalli in Malur taluk, came to light after videos purportedly shot by a teacher on a mobile phone went viral on social media.

“A responsible organisation can’t employ children for such work. It is highly condemnable. As soon as I came to know about this, I called the principal and suspended the principal, warden and other officials,” the state’s social welfare minister HC Mahadevappa said in an order on Sunday.

The minister also ordered a detailed investigation by the department into the undated incident.

Principal Bharathamma, teachers Muniyappa and Abhishek, and hostel warden Manjunath — only single names of the four were mentioned in the order — were suspended.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah said he has ordered a detailed report, assuring stringent action against the culprits. “I have come to know about the incident and I have sought a report. Will take strict action based on the report,” he added.

According to people familiar with the matter, state legal services authority chairman, Sunil Hosmani, visited the school and conducted an inspection. Executive director of Karnataka Residential Education Institutions Society (KRIES), Naveen Kumar Raju, and joint director of the social welfare department, R Srinivas, also held inspections at the site.

In the purported videos, five to six students in classes 7 to 9 were made to enter and clean the septic tank, in the presence of the principal and a teacher. The students are also seen sharing their distress and describing the harsh conditions they endure at the school. The students also allege of being subjected to punishment, including kneeling outside the hostel at night, and physical abuse.

HT could not independently verify the veracity of the videos.

All the affected children are Dalits, one of the people cited above said, declining to be named.

Though school officials attempted to downplay the incident, claiming the pit was part of a cleanliness drive and not a waste disposal chamber, a teacher, requesting anonymity, confirmed the pit contained excrement.

Parents have also expressed outrage over the incident.

“Using school students for this work is wrong; we will initiate action against school authorities,” district child protection unit officer Nagaratna, who also visited the school, told HT.

“I have visited the school and recommended disciplinary action against erring school staff,” Kolar district social welfare department joint director R Srinivas said, adding the department will not allow such incidents to take place in the future.

The incident also triggered a political row, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacking the Congress-led state government over the “heinous incident” against Dalit students.

“It is an alarming development that people belonging to SC communities are being subjected to violence and exploitation. Malur incident where children were subjected to physical abuse by putting them in a pit of feces is a very heinous incident. The Karnataka BJP strongly condemns it…,” state BJP chief BY Vijayendra said in a post on X, formerly twitter.

Calling for strict action against the culprits, Vijayendra demanded that minister Mahadevappa should take moral responsibility for the incident and resign.