Patna: A local court in Chapra on Monday sentenced Gandaman School Principal Mina Devi to seventeen years imprisonment in connection with mid-day incident in which 23 students were killed.
The court pronounced the sentence under section 304 and 308 after finding her “guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and attempt to culpable homicide”. According to a lawyer the additional district judge ruled that Mina Devi would serve the sentence under two different sections.
He said the court sentenced her to ten years for culpable homicide under section 304 and seven years under section 308 which amounts to attempt to commit culpable homicide and a penalty of Rs 3.75 lakh which will be paid to victims family members.
The district court had however acquitted her husband Arjun Rai from all charges on Wednesday after pronouncing his wife Mina Devi guilty. Arjun rai was one of the main accused in the case and was arrested along with his wife Mina Devi in July 2013 after the incident had occurred.
According to sources from Chapra, “The court found the case as rarest of the rare and pronounced the sentence.” The investigating agencies had found pesticides in the food which was served to students who had assembled in school to collect books on the fateful day.
The police according to sources had also recovered pesticides stacked in Principal’s house which was allegedly used as edible oil in the soya bean curry which was served to 80 school children. Some of the students after consuming the meal had vomited and died on the spot while others were rushed to hospital.
