Bengaluru: Bidar incident will scar kids for life, says parents

BENGALURU: Some 300 persons staged a demonstration in the city on Tuesday criticising police for repeatedly grilling the students of Bidar’s Shaheen Primary and High School for staging a play over the Citizenship Amendment Act.
The protesters — mostly teachers, parents and social activists — participated in a candlelight vigil at Mysore Bank Circle. Slamming police for charging a teacher and parent of a nine-year-old student with sedition for staging the play, the protesters asked: “How can cops repeatedly interrogate students inside the school? Why has everyone turned a blind eye to what they (police) are doing?”
Dwiji Guru, a parent and food-tech expert who participated in the demonstration, told TOI: “The arrested parent is a widow; her child is being taken care of by a neighbour.Slapping sedition charges and arresting them just like that is a clear example of the government trying to instil fear among students and parents and telling them to never question the authorities. It is horrifying and an inhumane act.”
Athiya Firdose, a homemaker, said police machinery is being used to scare schoolchildren. “Several things are happening in the country, but why is the government hell-bent on questioning kids and arresting parents,” she asked.
Recounting another incident in Mangaluru where students of a school run by a Hindu activist enacted the Babri Masjid demolition, another demonstrator Vinay Raj said: “If no action was taken against the school authorities in Mangaluru, why are kids and parents of the Bidar institution being harassed?”