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The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a PIL seeking directions to check misuse of sedition laws and quashing of FIRs registered against several persons in connection with an “anti-CAA play at a school in Bidar, Karnataka.
This comes a day after a district and sessions court granted anticipatory bail to five management representatives of Shaheen Primary School in Bidar where the alleged seditious play was staged by children on January 21. The court cited a lack of material for a prima facie case of sedition.
The Bidar court also cited that the play has “not caused any disharmony in the society”.
The court granted anticipatory bail to Abdul Qadeer, 60, president of Shaheen Group of Institutions; school headmaster Allauddin, 40; and three members of the school management committee with a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh each. Mohammed Yousuf Rahim, a local journalist who broadcast the play on his social media account, was also granted anticipatory bail.
The court also observed that Prime Minister Modi himself would have to complain about dialogues in the play to attract IPC Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) in the case.
The case was registered on January 26 on a complaint from Neelesh Rakshyal, a local activist, who had watched the play on Rahim’s account.