Karnataka school headmistress arrested in sedition case for 'tarnishing' Narendra Modi's image in play on CAA

Police on Thursday arrested the headmistress of a school in Karnataka's Bidar in a case of sedition for allegedly tarnishing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image in a play on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), according to several media reports. A parent of a child who participated in the play was also arrested, reports said. [caption id=“attachment_7804881” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Protestors hold placards and roses during a demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). PTI[/caption] Farida Begum, headmistress of the Shaheen Urdu Medium Primary School, was arrested by Bidar Police for organising the “controversial” play as she approved the script,  The Indian Express reported. Anuja Minsa, a parent of one of the students, was arrested because her child was the one who allegedly delivered the dialogue with the mention of the prime minister, as per the report. The Indian Express quoted the Bidar Superintendent of Police (SP) Sreedhara T as saying, “The accused Fareeda Begum, the in-charge headmistress of Shaheen School and Anuja Minsa, mother of the student who delivered the dialogue which mentioned slapping the prime minister were arrested based on evidence collected by the police based on the case filed on 26 January.” According to a report by The News Minute, the arrested accused will not be able to get bail because the judge in the Bidar district and sessions court is on leave till 4 February. Police also said that the action was taken based on a complaint made by an activist, Neelesh Rakshal, who claimed that students had been forced to participate in the play which had “promoted the premise that Muslims would be forced to leave India if CAA was implemented with the proposed NRC”, PTI reported. The complainant also alleged that that the school authorities ‘used’ the students to perform a drama on 21 January, where they “abused” Modi for introducing the CAA and NRC, PTI further reported. Sreedhara also said that police questioned around 50 people, including members of the management of the school, The New Indian Express reported. Non-teaching staff, audience, parents, and students were also questioned, the report added. The arrested accused have been sent to judicial custody. On Wednesday, a sedition case had been registered against the school and the management was also booked for “promoting enmity between different groups” under sections 124(A) and 153(A) of the Indian Penal Code. With inputs from PTI