Headmistress gets 17-yr jail for lunch that killed 22 kids

PATNA: Over three years after a tainted midday meal claimed the lives of 22 children and a cook at a school in Saran district of north Bihar, a court awarded a 17-year jail sentence to its then headmistress, Meena Devi.

Devi had been held guilty under sections 304 and 308 of the Indian Penal Code (culpable homicide not amounting to murder and attempt to commit culpable homicide). Under section 304, she will undergo imprisonment for 10 years while under section 308, the imprisonment will be of seven years.

“Both jail terms will run separately. The second term will begin once the first ends,” said Surendra Singh, public prosecutor, Saran district and sessions court. Along with the jail term, Devi was asked to pay cash penalties of `2.5 lakh and `1.25 lakh under these sections. “If she fails to pay the penalty, a year will be added to her jail term,” said Singh. The sentence was handed out on Monday by the court of Saran additional district judge (ADJ)2, Vijay Anand Tiwari, which on August 24 held Devi guilty while acquitting her husband Arjun Yadav for want of evidence. Tragedy had struck the school on July 16, 2013, when the kids and cook took ill and died after taking a mid-day meal, which was later found to be laced with the dangerous insecticide Monocrotophos, a toxic “organo-phosphorus” compound banned in most countries.

The incident raised questions about the efficacy of Centre’s mid-day meal programme in the state due to mismanagement and poor hygiene at school level, where the food is cooked and served to attract students from underprivileged sections of the society.