Kumbakonam: The founder of a school where 94 children were burnt alive in 2004 has been sentenced today to life in prison by a court in Tamil Nadu.
The court found 10 people guilty of charges ranging from criminal conspiracy to culpable homicide. Among them are several education officials and the owner of the school in Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district in the central part of the state.
The tragedy was one of the worst involving children in India. Those who died were all younger than nine.
In July 2004, a fire in the school’s kitchen spread quickly to the thatched roof, imprisoning nursery children in a firetrap. The investigation that followed found that basic fire safety rules had been ignored. There were no fire extinguishers, for example, and the school, which had nearly 900 students, had only one exit.
The outrage prompted the state government, headed by J Jayalalithaa, to order an inquiry which concluded that local officials had colluded with the school’s management to give it licenses and clearances. The plan detailing the school’s layout was sanctioned by education officials without visiting the school. The thatched roof used where meals were served to the children had also been cleared despite it being illegal.
11 others including three teachers have been acquitted today. The teachers had been found guilty in an earlier investigation of abandoning nursery children after the fire began.
