Just a few days ago, kids of class IV and staff of a school in Karnataka were being questioned and harassed by the police for allegedly making fun of CAA in a play. Now, two women have been arrested for the same.
The headmistress of Shaheen Primary School named Farida Begum and Nazimunnisa, a mother of a class IV student have been arrested and sent to judicial custody on charges of sedition over staging an anti-CAA play during an annual day celebration, that was held on 21st January.
They were taken into custody on Thursday after a local activist, named Nilesh Rakshyal, filed a complaint against them on 26th January 2020. The police officials said:
The mother of the student added dialogues that were not part of the script for the play. The child uttered unconstitutional words about constitutional authorities like ‘chappal leke maro’. The headmistress as the head of the institution was responsible for the entire programme.
Nilesh, the man who filed the complaint against the school said that the school has committed a serious offence. He said:
Innocent children are being used by the school management to stage a play against the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act, both initiatives brought by honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This play staged by the school has dishonoured the high office of the Prime Minister and helped propagate anti-national sentiments among the public.
However, Abdul Qadeer, the founder of Shaheen Group of Institutions who runs institutions all over India said:
The play staged by primary-level students should be viewed as a “satire on the present situation in the country.”
Questions are being raised on the rationale behind carrying out these arrests for relatively trivial reasons.