Bidar sedition case: Parent and teacher granted bail after two weeks in jail over anti-CAA play

They were arrested on January 30, more than a week after the students of a Urdu school in the Karnataka city performed the play criticising the citizenship law.

A local court in Karnataka’s Bidar district on Friday granted bail to two women who were arrested on January 30 after the students of a school allegedly performed a play criticising the Citizenship Amendment Act, LiveLaw reported. One of the women is the head teacher at Shaheen Urdu Medium Primary School, and the other is the mother of a student who performed in the play.

The police claimed the play, which was put up on January 21, was seditious and inflammatory. They said the students – in classes 4, 5 and 6 – insulted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The police drew flak for filing the sedition charges on the basis of a complaint of an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activist. The outfit is the students’ wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. They were also roundly criticised for questioning young students, including a nine-year-old.

Several political leaders have criticised the police and the state government for filing the sedition charges, and repeatedly questioning schoolchildren. Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights pulled up the district police earlier this week for violating the Juvenile Justice Act norms, and asked the police to stop questioning children. The child’s rights commission also said many students had stopped going to the school due to the police investigation.

The Child Welfare Committee of Bidar district has also issued a notice to the police.

High Court issues notice to state

Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court on Friday issued a notice to the state government, seeking its reply to a public interest litigation that sought action against the police for illegally questioning the schoolchildren, Bar and Bench reported.

The bench of Chief Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar sought the state government’s response by February 19, but refused to pass any interim orders.

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