Keralam suspends teacher over sports meet food allegation

Keralam’s Education Department suspended physical education teacher Jijo James on Thursday after police arrested him over an allegedly false claim that worms were found in food served at the State School Sports Meet in Kozhikode.

James, 35, teaches at Shalom Vocational Higher Secondary School in Vengola, Ernakulam district. The suspension was ordered pending investigation into the incident, which sparked a disturbance at the dining facility serving competitors at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Kozhikode grounds.

Kunnamangalam police registered a case following a complaint from sports meet convenor P K Aravindan. Police said the allegation, circulated through a Facebook post and video on Wednesday, was examined by organisers, who concluded that it was false. That finding remains the organisers’ assessment rather than a judicial determination.

Police subsequently took James into custody and formally recorded his arrest. The case includes an allegation of provocation intended to cause a riot under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Officials said the relevant offence was bailable and that he would be released on bail.

General Education Minister N Samsudheen said the authorities suspected an organised attempt to disrupt the competition and called for an investigation into whether others were involved. He said the alleged conduct warranted departmental action, while acknowledging that any suspected conspiracy should not automatically be treated as political.

The minister’s comments followed claims that the controversy had been deliberately created to interrupt an event involving schoolchildren who had spent months preparing for competition. No finding establishing a conspiracy has been announced, and the involvement of any additional individuals remains an allegation under examination.

The incident began on Wednesday when James claimed to have discovered a worm in sambar served at the athletes’ dining hall. He recorded material relating to the allegation and circulated it online, drawing attention to the arrangements for feeding participants during the meet.

Organisers challenged the account after inspecting the food. The dispute escalated into an argument at the venue, prompting police intervention. Members of the Students’ Federation of India also held a protest following the allegations, adding to the disruption around the dining area.

Police said James had deleted the social media post by Thursday evening. Investigators are examining the circumstances in which the material was recorded and circulated, including the allegation that it was intended to provoke unrest rather than draw attention to a genuine food safety problem.

The distinction is central to the case. A complaint about food quality is not, by itself, evidence of wrongdoing, and an allegation of deliberate fabrication requires independent examination. The authorities have maintained that the inspection did not substantiate James’s claim, but the criminal proceedings have yet to establish his culpability.

Pazhayidom Mohanan Namboothiri, who oversees preparation of meals for the competition, disputed the suggestion that a live worm could have survived in the sambar. He said large quantities of the dish were boiled for extended periods and questioned the authenticity of images circulated after the complaint.

He also alleged that the same individual had raised a complaint involving puttu on an earlier occasion. These assertions form part of the dispute over the food service and have not been independently established through a publicly disclosed laboratory examination.

The controversy has drawn attention to both the handling of complaints about meals served to students and the response to allegations circulated through social media. Organisers face the immediate responsibility of maintaining food safety while allowing complaints to be checked without disruption to competitors.

Samsudheen separately condemned allegations that journalists covering the disturbance had been assaulted. He said nobody had the right to attack media personnel and that the circumstances of any such incident should be examined.

The minister also addressed complaints concerning the eligibility of some participants, saying age verification had been tightened and medical examinations conducted where questions arose. He said action would follow if fabricated age documents were established, including against schools or teachers involved. Those eligibility concerns are separate from the police investigation into the food allegation and the teacher’s suspension.

The State School Sports Meet began on October 25 and is scheduled to finish on October 31. Events are being held at the NIT Kozhikode grounds, with pupils from schools under the General Education Department participating in the competition.