Patna, June 28 (IANS) Dozens of Muslim students of a government-run Urdu school in a Bihar village have refused to take mid-day meals cooked by a Dalit woman.

'We will not touch the food. There is no question of taking food cooked by a woman belonging to the scheduled caste,' said Nurjahan Bano, an eight-year-old student of Amri Urdu middle school in Rohtas district, about 150 km from here.

Md Aslam Ansari, a teacher in the school, admitted that Muslim students were not eating mid-day meals for nearly a month. 'It is an unfortunate thing,' he said.

'All the Muslim students of the school refused to eat food cooked by a Dalit woman,' villager Naushad Alam said. There are over 100 students in the school.

Some parents of the school students are responsible for the decision, Alam said.

'Last month, only a few students refused to eat food cooked by a Dalit woman but later most of the students followed them,' he said.

No official has visited the school so far despite a complaint filed by the Dalit woman who used to cook for the students under the mid-day meal scheme.

The district administration officials are planning to visit the school for an inspection. 'We will inquire into the case soon,' district official Ramnarain said.