Parents and the local community engaged in violent protests after 22 children died and dozens more fell sick after eating contaminated meals provided by the school for free.

In Dharrmasati Gandaman in Saran district, four police vehicles were set on fire by angry and grief-stricken parents and villagers.

The incident

Children in India complained that their free lunch tasted strange. The cook at the state school also tasted the free meal that consisted of rice, beans, soy balls and potato curry.

Within 30 minutes, everyone started to feel stomach pains followed by diarrhea and vomiting. In a matter of hours, at least 22 children died and dozens more remained in hospitals, according to officials of the northeastern state of Bihar, India.

On Wednesday night, July 17, angry mob protests broke out on the streets. State officials investigated the cause and discovered that cooking oil used to cook the school's free lunch was stored in a container previously used for insecticides.

The Supreme Court in India has ordered a universal and mandatory lunch programmes in schools since 2001. Free meals are served to approximately 120 million children in schools. The school lunch programme is considered the biggest in the world.

The food program has helped improve school attendance and serves an important health purpose since some surveys have found that almost half of the children in India suffer from malnutrition.

Like other programs implemented in India by government, the food programme is also affected by mismanagement and corruption. Food poisoning and other previous cases may be considered as routine although nothing has been quite extreme as the incident in a Bihar school.

On the same day as the Bihar food poisoning case, at least 50 children in another nearby school in Madhubani District were also reported to have fallen ill after eating their free meals. Some children complained of having seen a dead lizard in their food. After going to a nearby clinic for a few hours of observation, the children were all sent home to rest, according to the chief civil servant of the district, Lokesh Kumar Singh.

While things are not completely clear about the incident in the school located in a village of Dahrmasati Gandawan in the Saran District of Bihar, cronyism might be a factor. As the news of the Bihar tragedy spread, the school principal has apparently disappeared according to officials. It was the school principal who bought the cooking oil used to cook the contaminated food from a store owner who happens to be her husband.

Parents protested against the tragic deaths of their children caused by food poisoning. They recounted their experiences as they sought medical facilities to help their children. The state medical system was also put in the spotlight. Many facilities were apparently overwhelmed by the number of children seeking medical attention.

Some parents who rushed their children to a nearby primary care center and clinic panicked at the sheer number of patients being attended by only one doctor. The doctor asked families to go to the district government hospital.

Akilanand Mishra, father to 5-year-old victim Asish Kumar Mishra, watched his child die in his arms on the way to the district hospital.

Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar said the incident could have national political repercussions. More details of the food poisoning case in India are expected to be revealed as soon as officials have finished their investigation. Mr Kumar has called an emergency meeting in light of the protests and ordered a team of forensic experts to conduct an official investigation.

RELATED STORIES