Overview
- A venomous snake bit six girls sleeping in the hostel of an aided tribal ashram school in Japtalai on August 9–10, three of the girls died and three were hospitalized.
- Police arrested headmaster Prashant Tatpalliwar and hostel warden Bhashkar Bhoyar and they were remanded to 15 days' magisterial custody while the school's former trust president and his son have been named co-accused.
- Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered the school's licence cancelled permanently and district officials said they will shift students and carry out a detailed inquiry into safety compliance.
- Reports and the NHRC say the hostel suffered severe infrastructure failures, including alleged overcrowding with about 79 girls in one room and a shortage of cots that forced students to sleep on the floor.
- State officials disclosed that 584 students in Maharashtra ashram schools died in the past two years from causes including snakebites and illness, and the government has ordered safety audits and faces political criticism over oversight.