Karnataka: Court says no sedition in Bidar school play, cites right to oppose

BIDAR: The sedition case against a Bidar school over an anti-CAA play staged by students is “prima facie lacking” the ingredients for the charge, a local court said, while granting anticipatory bail to school management staff. The play had not caused any disharmony in society, the judge said, adding everybody has a “right to express disapprobation” of the government’s measures “with a view to obtaining their alteration by lawful means”.
Students of Shaheen Primary and High School in Bidar had staged a play on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on January 21.Based on a complaint from Neelesh Rakshyala, an activist who watched a video clip posted online, police slapped sedition charges against the school management, a teacher and the mother of a pupil who uttered remarks against PM Modi.
‘School play hasn’t caused disharmony’
The mother and teacher were granted bail mid-February. On March 3, the principal district and sessions court granted advance bail to Shaheen Group chairman Abdul Qadeer and four staff members, observing there was nothing seditious about the play.
Judge Managoli Premavathi said it was evident that the child had spoken derogatory words against the PM and that the play voiced opposition to the amended citizenship law and the move to create a National Register of Citizens. However, the extracted part is the only offensive part as per the prosecution’s case... the dialogue, if read as a whole, nowhere shows sedition against the government, and such ingredients of Section 124 A of IPC are prima facie not made out. What the children expressed is they will have to leave the country if they do not produce the documents and except that there is nothing to show the accused has committed the offence of sedition, she said.
“The dialogue in my considered opinion does not...(invoke) hatred or contempt or excite disaffection towards government. In the entire nation it is found that there are rallies for and against CAA, NRC and as a citizen everybody has got the right to express disapprobation of the measures of the government with a view to obtaining their alteration by lawful means. The drama has not caused any disharmony in society.” Had a video not been uploaded online, people would not have come to know about the dialogue in the drama, she said.