Bidar Court Grants Bail To Headmistress & Mother Of Student Who Were Booked For Sedition Over Anti-CAA Play

A Sessions Court in Bidar, Karnataka on Friday granted bail to Fareeda Begum, head mistress of Shaheen Primary and High School and Nazbunnisa, the mother of a student, who were arrested over sedition charges for a play against CAA.

They were under custody since their arrest on January 30.

They bail is subject to them executing a personal bond for Rupees One Lakh with two sureties for the same amount. They have also been asked to co-operate with the investigation and appear before the Investigating Officer as and when called.

Talking to Live Law, Advocate B T Venkatesh, who appeared in the bail applications, said that the primary argument in the case was that a play criticizing a government law cannot be treated as seditious and leading to communal disharmony.

It was just a 3-minute play making a satirical comment at CAA and NPR, Advocate Venkatesh said.

It was also argued that the complaint, which was filed almost 9 days after the play, was politically motivated and mala fide.

Students of the Shaheen Education Society belonging to classes 4, 5 and 6 had staged a play on the CAA and NRC on January 21. Following that, an FIR was registered at the Bidar New Town police station, against the school authorities for performing "anti-national activities" and "spreading negative opinion" about Parliamentary laws, based on a complaint by activist Nilesh Rakshala.

The FIR included IPC Sections 124A (Sedition), Section 153A (spreading communal disharmony), 504 and 505 (statements provoking breach of peace and causing public mischief).

Nazbunnissa was the mother of a girl student who had uttered a dialogue, which was treated by the police as insulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The case had attracted country wide attention after visuals of uniformed police officials interrogating minor students became viral in social media. 

The Karnataka HC has sought the response of police in a PIL which seeks action against police on ground of illegal questioning of minors violating Juvenile Justice Act and other laws.