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Tuesday, 30 August 2016

Indian principal jailed for 17 years over deadly school meal

The children, aged four to 12, fell ill within minutes of eating the lunch of lentils, potatoes and rice at their primary school in the poverty-stricken village of Dharmasati Gandaman on July 16, 2013.

NEW DELHI: An Indian court Monday sentenced a school principal to 17 years in jail over the death of 23 pupils who were served a free meal laced with pesticide, a prosecutor said.

The head of the government-run school was found guilty last week of culpable homicide for the 2013 tragedy. In all, nearly 50 children consumed the poisonous lunch in Saran district in the eastern state of Bihar.

“Meena Devi was sentenced to ten years for culpable homicide and seven years for attempt to commit culpable homicide,” public prosecutor Sameer Mishra told AFP.

Devi was also fined 375,000 rupees ($5,500), with much of the money intended for the families of 24 injured children.

Prosecutors said they were satisfied with Monday’s ruling but would challenge the court’s acquittal of her husband Arjun Rai for lack of evidence.

Rai allegedly supplied the pesticide-laced oil used to cook the meal.

Investigators told the court Rai had stored the pesticide alongside the cooking oil, and supplied the contaminated oil to the school.
He had secured the contract for school supplies from his wife without following any guidelines, investigators said.

The children, aged four to 12, fell ill within minutes of eating the lunch of lentils, potatoes and rice at their primary school in the poverty-stricken village of Dharmasati Gandaman on July 16, 2013.

“We were hoping both of them would be jailed but the court let her husband off,” Madav Ram, father of a 12-year child, who died, told AFP.

The disaster prompted the government to improve food safety in schools. Children often suffer food poisoning due to poor hygiene in kitchens and occasionally sub-standard food.

Free lunches have since 2001 been offered to some 120 million schoolchildren throughout India, in the world’s largest school meal programme.

Educators see the scheme as a way to stop children dropping out of school, in a country where almost half of all young children are undernourished.

Carpet dealer Deepak gets Santamil Selvi's suit struck off

Carpet dealer Deepak Jaikishian was today successful in striking out the RM1.9 million suit filed by A Santamil Selvi over the five-year exile in India of her husband, the late P Balasubramaniam (Bala), and her family's exile after a statutory declaration made by Bala.

This comes with the Federal Court allowing Deepak's appeal that the matter need not heard in the High Court.

A five-member bench led by Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin allowed Deepak's appeal and made no order on costs.

The other judges were Federal Court judges Justice Zainun Ali, Justice Abu Samah Nordin, Justice Ramly Ali and Justice Balia Yusof Wahi.

Out of the three questions posed before the court, it only answered one: it gave a negative reply to the question on whether the filing of a single notice of appeal in respect of eight separate distinct interlocutory applications is in compliance with the procedural rules as set out in the Rules of the Court of Appeal 1995.

In other words, although there are nine separate defendants, a notice of appeal had to be filed on each of them.

This decision puts an end to Santamil Selvi's suit. She had previously filed an appeal over the striking out of her suit against prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, his wife Rosmah Mansor and six others that was struck out.

While the proceedings were going on today, a registrar told the panel that Deepak (photo) had discharged his counsel, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, last Friday and would be appearing for today's proceeding himself.

However, Shafee, who was present in court, clarified to the bench that he has been re-appointed.

Lawyer Americk Sidhu appeared for Santamil Selvi.
First statutory declaration

Santamil and her three children had in 2014 filed an RM1.9 million suit for damages against the Deepak and the seven others on grounds of a conspiracy to put them into exile.

The seven others named are Najib, Rosmah, Najib's siblings Ahmad Johari and Nazim, senior lawyer Cecil Abraham, lawyer M Arulampalam and commissioner of oaths Zainal Abidin Muhayat.

Their exile, Santamil and her family claimed, was caused by Balasubramaniam's first statutory declaration, made sometime in July 2008, in which the late private investigator states that Najib knew the murdered Mongolian translator, Altantuya Shaariibuu.

The private investigator then retracted the first SD the very next day and signed a second one, after which he and his family disappeared.

The High Court struck out the suit by Selvi and her children against all the eight but in the Court of Appeal, Deepak claimed that the lawyer who appeared for him at the High Court did not represent him and he subsequently conceded to allowing the hearing of Santamil’s suit against him.

As a result of this, Santamil's suit against Deepak still stood as the businessman had earlier on Oct 2, last year, recorded the consent order, after he conceded on allowing the hearing of the suit against him.

Deepak, however, withdrew what he conceded, resulting in a hearing and a decision by the Court of Appeal to reinstate the suit and order the matter to go on trial at this High Court.
This has resulted in today's appeal.