Pair face 23 murder charges over mass school poisoning

A heADTeACheR and her husband have been charged with murder after 23 children died from eating pesticide-contaminated lunches in July at a school in eastern India.

The trial of Meena Kumari and her husband is expected to begin soon, said police. They could face the death penalty if convicted.

The teacher’s husband, opposition politician Arjun Rai, is alleged to have stored pesticide at the school that was for use at his farm. A charge sheet filed in a court in Bihar state on Sunday said the school chef cooked with it by mistake.

Both denied the charges and told police there was no deliberate act on their part.

The school’s cooks have told authorities that the head controlled the food for the government-provided free daily lunch. One of the cooks told investigators that the cooking oil appeared different than usual, but that Kumari told her to use it anyway.

The children who died were aged between five and 12.

India’s midday meal plan was introduced in the 1960s in southern India, as an incentive for poor parents to send their children to school. It is now one of the world’s biggest school nutrition programmes.

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