• Over 100 children in Mokama, India, fell ill after eating a school lunch containing a dead snake.
• The incident has prompted an investigation by India's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
• Protests erupted from families of the affected children following the incident.

India’s human rights body, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), is investigating reports that over 100 children fell sick after consuming a school lunch in which a dead snake was discovered. Reports indicate that the cook served the food after removing the dead snake from it, leading to serious health concerns among the students. This incident occurred last week in a government-run school located in Mokama, Bihar, one of India’s poorest states, according to South China Morning Post and CBS News.

The NHRC has demanded that local officials and police conduct an investigation into the situation, which reportedly caused protests from the students' families and road blockages by locals in response to the alarming news. Approximately 500 children are believed to have been served the contaminated meal, leading to widespread outrage, according to BBC and Dawn.

The NHRC emphasizes that the report, if substantiated, could indicate a serious violation of the students' human rights, urging for a detailed report on the health status of the affected children to be submitted by senior state officials within two weeks. The Mid-Day Meal scheme, aimed at combating hunger and promoting education, has faced scrutiny due to incidents of food safety violations in the past, including a 2013 tragedy in which 23 children died from pesticide-laced food, as noted by India Times and South China Morning Post.