Killer of 23 students was sentenced to 17 years in jail in Indian state of Bihar

Chhapra: Saran additional district and sessions judge (ADJ) Vijay Anand Tiwary on Monday awarded 17 years jail term to Meena Devi, the then principal of Dharmasati government primary school, Masrakh, in connection with the death of 23 schoolchildren after eating midday meal in the school on July 16, 2013. She will have to separately serve 10 years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 304 and seven years of imprisonment under Section 308 of IPC. However, three years would be deducted as she has already served this period in jail during the trial of the case.A named accused in the case, Meena had surrendered in the court 15 days after the 23 students (11 boys and 12 girls in 4 to 12 years age group) of the school died after consuming midday meal. Her husband Arjun Rai, from whose shop the material for preparing the midday meal was supplied to the school, had been arrested during the investigation into the case. Arjun was a non-FIR accused. The court had acquitted Arjun on Wednesday for lack of evidence against him in the case. During investigation, it was found that the cook had been supplied insecticide in cooking oil from Arjun's shop.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.5 lakh fine under Section 304 and Rs1.25 lakh under Section 308, IPC. In case of her failure to pay the fine, she would have to separately serve one year rigorous imprisonment under each section, the court ordered.

Investigators told the court Rai had stored the pesticide alongside the cooking oil, and supplied the contaminated oil to the school.The state education minister, PK Shahi, told the BBC a preliminary investigation indicated that the food was contaminated with traces of phosphorous.

"The doctors who have attended are of the tentative opinion that the smell coming out of the bodies of the children suggests that the food contained organo-phosphorus, which is a poisonous substance," he said.

"Now the investigators have to find out whether organo-phosphorus was accidental or there was some deliberate mischief."

Earlier, doctors treating the patients had said "food poisoning" was the cause of the deaths.

"We suspect it to be poisoning caused by insecticides in vegetable or rice," Amarjeet Sinha, a senior education official, told the BBC.

A doctor treating the children at a hospital in Patna said contaminated vegetable oil could have led to the poisoning.

Patna-based journalist Amarnath Tewary says villagers told local reporters that similar cases of food poisoning after having Mid-Day Meals had taken place in the area previously.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar called an emergency meeting and ordered a team of forensic experts to the school, which is in Saran district.Bihar is one of India's poorest and most populous states.

The Mid-Day Meal is the world's largest school feeding programme, reaching 120 million children in 1.2 million schools across the country, according to the government.

Mr Shahi acknowledged "that food is not being checked before it is being served".

He added that "the scale at which the operation is being carried out, serving food to 20 million children every day and that too in remotest village schools, checking food before it is served - that itself is a challenge".

The Mid-Day Meal was first introduced for poor and disadvantaged children in the southern city of Chennai (Madras) in 1925.