The High Court of Karnataka in Kalaburagi has quashed the sedition case booked against Bidar’s Shaheen School for staging a play by schoolchildren on the theme of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in 2020.
After hearing the criminal petition filed by Allauddin and others, Justice Hemant Chandangoudar quashed the case on Wednesday.
The sedition case filed against the institution after schoolchildren staged a satirical play criticising the BJP-led Union government’s CAA and NRC had hit the headlines in January 2020.
As part of the annual day celebrations, Shaheen schoolchildren studying in Class IV had, on January 21, 2020, staged the play.
During the performance, a girl playing a character was heard saying that she will beat with footwear anyone asking for any document during NRC verification. The other children playing different characters were also heard asserting that they will not show documents to prove their citizenship.
Following a complaint lodged by Neelesh Rakshyala saying that some of the dialogues delivered in the play amounted to “insulting” Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the New Town Police in Bidar had booked Shaheen School under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code.
On January 30, 2023, the police arrested Nazbunnisa, mother of the child who delivered the dialogues, and Fareeda Begum, the teacher who supervised the play, based on the child’s confessions.
The interrogation of the children by police in uniform on January 28 had drawn widespread criticism after a photograph went viral. The police then visited the school in plain clothes on January 31 and interrogated the students. They returned on February 1 and interrogated around 60 students. They again visited the school premises on February 3 for questioning the students for the fourth time.
Mudigere MLA Nayana Jyothi Jhawar and South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM) had, on February 12, 2020, filed a Public Interest Litigation petition in the High Court seeking action against the police for illegally questioning minor students.
The High Court, on August 17, 2021, observed that the presence of armed police officers during the questioning of children had violated the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act of 2015 and children’s rights.
Speaking to The Hindu, Abdul Qadeer, chairman of Shaheen Group of Institutions, said that his faith in the judiciary had multiplied with the High Court order quashing the sedition charge against Shaheen School.
“Shaheen Group is known for peace and harmony. Students from different castes and religions sit together and study here. Students are treated equally irrespective of their cultural backgrounds and their economic status. It is because of some misunderstanding that the unfortunate thing [the sedition case] had happened. Now, we all are happy. Especially, the headmistress of the school and the mother of the child who delivered the dialogue in the play are very happy and contended with the court order,” he said.
