For Staging A Play Critical Of CAA, School Kids Interrogated By Police Five Times In Five Days

When the images of Karnataka Police, both in uniform and in plainclothes 'questioning' a group of school students were circulated for the first time, it was shocking and disturbing for a lot of people.

But now it seems like both the students and those who were initially shocked to see the visuals have got used to it because in the past five days, the students have been interrogated by the cops as many times.

The students of Shaheen School in Bidar have been in the eye of the storm after a play staged in the school on January 21 courted controversy. According to a complaint filed by Nilesh Rakshala, an activist of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad the play which was critical of CAA and NRC had also dialogues insulting the PM.

Following the complaint, on January 26, police filed cases under IPC section 124(A) for sedition and Section 504 and 153 A of promoting enmity between different communities and the headmistress of the school Fareeda Begum and Najamunnisa, the mother of a student who allegedly made derogatory remarks against the PM, were arrested on January 30. Police first interrogated the students on January 28.

"In the morning, three police personnel in plainclothes came with two members of the Karnataka State Child Rights Protection Commission. Later, the deputy superintendent of police H Basaveshwara joined them," a school official told PTI.

The police have been reportedly questioning the children and staff about those who wrote the script and assigned to deliver specific dialogues. On Tuesday, the questioning reportedly went on for two hours.

"This was the fifth time police have come here. As usual, they came and questioned the children and staff," a school official said.

Faced with accusations of spreading 'fear' among the Muslims, Thouseef Madikeri, the CEO of Shaheen Group that operates 43 educational institutions in nine states with over 20,000 students said the interrogation of the students amounts to harassment and that it can have consequences in the long-run.

¡°I cannot understand why the police are repeatedly subjecting the children of 9 to 12 age group to mental torture. The harassment will affect them in the long run. The police don¡¯t understand if we tell them,¡± he said.

Congress MLA and former minister UT Khader slammed the BJP government in the state as well as the Centre for "filing sedition charges against people." Addressing a press conference, he alleged that the Central and state governments were trying to suppress the voice of people in the country using law enforcement agencies. Khader claimed that the two women who "depicted the problems they were facing" in the drama were booked under the sedition law.