2. Makeshwar Ram holds a
picture of his grandson Rahul
Ram who died from poisoning
of his midday meal. Rahul was
buried just outside the school
by his grandfather, who
wanted the grave to serve as a
memorial to him and a
reminder of the grim tragedy.
3. A view of the one room
school where the tragedy
occurred, also showing
the grave of the young
Rahul who has been
buried outside the school
by his grandfather.
4. A thermocole sheet with
photos of some of the
twenty three children
who died due to this
tragedy, is placed on
Rahul‟s grave.
5. The classroom where the
children spent their time.
Classes have been
suspended after this
incident.
6. The “kitchen” where the food was
cooked for the children of the school
appeared to be a pile of bricks in the
veranda, where the children were also
served. A 2010 Planning Commission
Report says that a majority of schools
operate out of pucca buildings but Bihar
is an exception, with 52.5 per cent
schools housed in kutcha buildings. As
per central government norms, a
kitchen-cum-store should be constructed
for the purpose of preparing midday
meal. Only 42.5 per cent of schools in
Bihar have a kitchen shed.
7. Chandra Devi who lost two
of her sons, Rahul and
Prahalad to the poisoning,
lies on a plain wooden bed
in an open shed, with a large
crowd of people around her.
She is distraught and says,
„Meena Kumari‟s own
children should be shot with
a gun, then she may
understand our pain.‟
8. Chandra Devi is being
attended to by a doctor
and is on a drip. Many
women in the village
are under trauma after
their children died and
have been on drips and
medicines since.
9. Satyendra Ram, father of Rahul Ram, had
boarded the 2.38 pm train from Chapra
to Ludhiana on the day of the tragedy. At
the end of his 1136 km journey, in
Ludhiana, he saw what was happening in
his village on television news. He got on
another train to get back immediately. His
son Rahul died due to the poisoning from
the midday meal. He and his wife lost a
new born baby just a few days before
Rahul died, on 14 July.
10. Pano Devi, one of the two
cooks who prepared the
food that day.Two children
of hers died on consuming
the food, and this here is
her other child, the twin of
a son who died.
11. A poster of the RJD party lies
open in the store room of Meena
Kumari's house. Meena Kumari
is said to be the teacher in charge
of the school where the tragedy
occurred, and until recently had
been absconding from the police.
Speculations were rife as to her
husband's political allegiances
with the RJD, which was also
thought to be protecting her.
12. A container of oil in Meena
Kumari's kitchen. The presence
of organophosphate was found
in the oil from the school and
the vegetables cooked in it.The
rice served to the children tested
negative for organophosphate.
This suggests that the oil
contained this insecticide, or as
many are saying, the container in
which it was stored had the
insecticide.
13. Vegetables and rice in a
store room in Meena
Kumari's house. On the
fateful day when the
children were
poisoned, they ate a simple
meal of rice, potato and
soy beans.
