Teacher, pupil’s mom held for anti-CAA play in Bidar school

BIDAR: Police on Thursday arrested a woman teacher and the mother of a girl student in the sedition case filed against a Bidar school for allegedly staging a play against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, earlier in the month.
The arrested have been identified as Fareeda Begum, head teacher of a private school run by Shaheen Group of Institutions, and Anuja Minsa, mother of the girl who allegedly uttered an anti-PM slur.Class 4, 5 and 6 students staged the play at the school on January 21 and police booked a case of sedition against the school management on January 26.
During the play, a student made a remark against the PM. A clip of the play went viral, and Neelesh Rakshyala from Bidar town lodged a complaint with police.
Mom held for tutoring child to utter word, teacher for allowing it
School director Yusuf Ahmad said a team of police officers arrived at the school in the evening and started questioning Anuja and Fareeda, besides children who acted in the play, for nearly two hours. After the interrogation, police arrested Anuja and Fareeda around 7.30pm.
Deputy superintendent of police Basaveshwara Heera confirmed to TOI the arrest of the duo and said they will be produced before court late at night.
During interrogation on Wednesday evening, police sources claimed that the mother said the remark against the PM was not part of the script and the Class 6 girl student picked it up from extensive discussions at home on the controversial citizenship law. The student reportedly admitted to it, a police officer claimed.
Police said they arrested the mother for tutoring her child to utter the word that’s not part of the script, and teacher for allowing it. The school director said they will fight to protect the teacher and the parent, and will apply for bail soon.