Bihar mid-day meal tragedy: school principal arrested

Mangalore Today/NDTV

Chhapra, July 24: The principal of the Bihar primary school where 23 children died last week after eating a free mid-day meal contaminated with pesticide, has surrendered and is now in police custody.
Meena Kumari had been missing since the incident took place in Gandaman village of Chhapra on July 16. She has been charged in a police FIR with murder and criminal conspiracy.

 

The state’s education minister PK Shahi had alleged last week that grocery and other supplies for the mid-day meal were procured from a store run by Meena Devi’s husband. He had also alleged that the husband was a member of an opposition party, suggesting that the meal was deliberately poisoned on behalf of those looking to destablise the Janata Dal (United) government headed by Nitish Kumar.

The principal’s husband is still absconding.

A notice declaring that Meena Devi was a proclaimed offender had been pasted at her home. It asked her to present herself before the police immediately failing which the process of attaching her property would begin, the police said.

On July 16, about 50 children, most of them less than 10 years of age, complained of sickness after eating lunch at school. By that evening, 20 of them had died and many others were in hospital, some in critical condition. The grieving village buried its children near the school amid protests and demands that Meena Devi be arrested.  

A forensic report has revealed the presence of pesticide in samples of oil from a container, remains on a platter and the mixture of rice with vegetables on aluminium utensils, all of which were collected from the school.

Mr Shahi had alleged that some children had said that the food tasted bad, but the principal insisted that they eat it.

Nitish Kumar’s government has faced lacerating criticism for the tragedy.