Bengaluru/New Delhi: In a setback for Karnataka police, a local court granted anticipatory bail to all the accused in a case of sedition filed over a school play in Bidar in northwestern part of the state.
But the sting came in the verdict. The Bidar court said the sedition case was poor and lacked enough evidence. The play "has not caused any disharmony in the society", said the district and sessions court in Bidar said. The play was on the on-going protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
The play was performed in January by students between nine and 12 of Shaheen School and it landed in trouble when a sedition complaint was filed over an 11-year-old girl's lines which said “if anyone asked for documents she would hit them with slippers”. The play was also critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"The drama has not caused any disharmony in the society. Considering all the circumstances, I am of the opinion that the ingredients of Section 124A of IPC (Sedition) are prima facie lacking," said the court.
The court granted protection from possible arrest to five members of the school management. Earlier, the head teacher and the mother of the student who penned the lines that her ward spoke were arrested and sent to custody. They were later granted bail.
The case later hit headlines as the local police repeatedly questioned young students and the arrest of the widowed mother of a student caused a huge uproar in Bidar and Bengaluru. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a public interest litigation seeking quashing of sedition charges filed against parents and teachers of Shaheen School.
A PIL was filed by social activist Yogita Bhayana after the police slapped sedition charges on the management, parents of students, and teachers of the school. Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The plea had also sought drafting of guidelines to check the misuse of the colonial-era law.
Thought the case was dismissed by the Supreme Court, the school management took a different stand. “We have filed a case in Kalaburagi bench (Karnataka HC) to quash the sedition charges and are not party to the PIL filed in SC," said a person from the school.
