The Karnataka High Court on Monday asked the state police to respond to photographs submitted in a petition which that claim that policemen in uniform entered a school and began to question children over an anti-CAA play that was performed at the school .
The High Court bench led by Chief Justice Abhay Sreeniwas Oka asked whether police officials in Bidar were in uniform while questioning students at the school. Karnataka Attorney General (AG) Prabhuling Navadgi, in response, stated that they will verify whether this was the case and also suggested that the photos could be ‘doctored’.
The court sought the response on a petition seeking action against the Bidar police for “illegally examining and questioning” minor students who participated in a school play against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The petition was filed by Nayana Jyothi Jawar, an advocate, and others saying that the state police violated rule of law and various provisions under the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Juvenile Justice Act.
“The police have interrogated the students aged 9 years to 12 years of Shaheen School in Bidar, creating mental trauma and fear in the children’s state of mind,” the petition read.
The young students were repeatedly interrogated by the Bidar police for participating in an anti-CAA play in their school.
The police had also filed an FIR against the management of the school after an activist of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) filed a complaint on January 26. The ‘interrogation’ with the minors only stopped after the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights criticised the Bidar district police for violation of law.
The petition also faults the police for questioning “about 85 students studying in classes 4-6, thus creating a very hostile environment for students, affecting their education and mental state of mind”. “The police questioned the students in uniform and selected students according to their whims and fancies,” the petitioners contend.
The petition adds, “… the respondent Police questioned the students of Shaheen Education Society and the Administration, Bidar, violating procedure established by law including the provisions of Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and Rules 2016 as well as Criminal Procedure Code 1973 and most significantly Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, without any presence of parents or teachers of the students questioning them while being video recorded, without their consent.”
The petition asks the court to direct the Karnataka Police to examine minors “in accordance with the provisions of law and further that it initiate action against the delinquent police personnel”.
The High Court directed the investigating officer in the sedition case filed against school authorities in Bidar to file an affidavit based on the photographs produced by the petitioner. The counsel appearing for the state government had earlier stated that police officials were not in uniform while questioning students in the school. However, photographs published in the media and submitted to the court by the petitioner show police officials in uniform while questioning students.
The school authorities were charged with sedition over a play staged in the school by students of classes 4,5 and 6 which voiced dissent against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The play was staged in the school on January 21 and a complaint was filed by a right-wing activist on January 26 accusing the school authorities of sedition. Two days later, Nazbunissa, the mother of a student and Fareeda Begum, the head teacher of the school’s primary section, were arrested and spent time in jail for over two weeks before they were granted bail on February 14.