On Thursday the Bidar Police booked the mother of a school student and the headteacher for ‘sedition’ after students staged an Anti-CAA-NRC play.
Karnataka| The Bidar Police made the arrests based on a complaint by Nilesh Rakshala, an activist of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. 4 days after the management of a school in Karnataka’s Bidar was booked in a case of sedition and breach of peace based on a complaint alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image was tarnished in an anti-CAA-NRC play staged by children, the headmistress, and a parent was arrested.
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The police made the arrests after school authorities prevented them from questioning students for long periods of time.
The Bidar Police made the arrests based on a complaint by Nilesh Rakshala, an activist of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. Following the complaint, three policemen, two of whom were in uniform and one in plain clothes, visited the school and questioned the students who were part of the play, including a 9-year-old child.
Officers from Bidar New Town Police State arrested Nazbunnisa, 26, the mother of a girl who played a role in the play and Fareeda Begum, 52, the headteacher of Shaheen School, who was involved in staging it. The two were booked under Sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes), 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting, attempting to promote disharmony) and 34 (common intent) of the Indian Penal Code.
“The management tried to create ‘fear’ among the Muslims that they would have to leave the country if the CAA and NRC [National Register of Citizens] are implemented,” Rakshala said in his complaint, PTI reported. A resident had uploaded a video of the event on his Facebook page but later took it down.
CEO of the Shaheen School said that while the play focused largely on the concerns of the Muslim community, the line which recommended beating people who ask for documents with slippers landed the school in trouble. “This line was a generic one and was not intended to target anyone,” the school CEO claimed. “But it has been wrongly interpreted.” The police arrested the mother of the girl child who uttered this line.
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