Karnataka: Single bench to hear PIL against Bidar sedition case

BENGALURU: A high court single bench will hear a public interest litigation questioning the registration of a sedition case against a Bidar school for staging a play against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Another PIL focussing on the students’ trauma, filed by the South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring and advocate Nayana Jyothi Jhawar, will be heard on Friday.
Declining to entertain the first petition filed by Babu and two others, a division bench headed by chief justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka on Wednesday said it will be heard by a single bench.
The petitioners had sought for quashing of the FIR as well as proceedings initiated against the management of the school, Shaheen Education Society, based on a compliant filed by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad worker Neelesh Rakshyal on January 26.
The second PIL focusses on the mental trauma faced by students and their parents.
The petitioners accused police of illegally interrogating students in the 9-12 age group contrary to the Juvenile Justice Act and Criminal Procedure Code. They said the ongoing investigation should be stopped.
Apart from seeking action against the police personnel for flouting norms, the petitioners sought for payment of compensation to parents/guardians of those who had been questioned. Over 80 students were reportedly interrogated by police after the case was filed.