A single-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court which quashed sedition charges against the management of a school in Karnataka’s Bidar district said that schools should not teach children to criticise government policies or insult constitutional functionaries for taking particular policy decisions.
Justice Hemant Chandangoudar passed an order on June 14 quashing the sedition proceedings against four persons who are part of the management of Shaheen School in Bidar, where a play was performed by students aged 9, 10 and 11 years against the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2020. Following the performance, the Bidar police arrested a teacher and the mother of an 11-year-old student on charges of sedition. The complete order was made available only on Wednesday, July 5.
Though the Bidar police invoked sedition charges against the accused when a video of the play surfaced online in January 2020, the judge struck down the charges and explained why sedition did not apply.
“The play/drama was enacted within the school premises. There are no words uttered by the children inciting people to resort to violence or to create public disorder … and it was made known to the public at large only when the other accused uploaded the play on his Facebook account,” Justice Chandangoudar said. “Hence, at no stretch of [the] imagination it can be said that the petitioners herein enacted the play with an intention to incite people to resort to violence against the government or with an intention of creating public disorder,” the order says.
Incitement to violence is a crucial component of the sedition law. In 2022, the Supreme Court put the sedition law in abeyance last year, barring governments from registering new cases and investigating old ones while it is under review.
The High Court hearing the Bidar case held that for the punishment of offences under section 153A [promoting enmity] of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), there must be an “intention to promote enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.” or doing acts prejudicial for maintenance of harmony.
“In the instant case, there is no allegation that the accused herein either promoted enmity or hatred towards another religious community. In the absence of essential ingredients so as to constitute an offence punishable under section 153A of IPC, the registration of FIR is arbitrary,” the order says. The court also noted that the case only came to light days after the play was staged when a video of the play surfaced online.
Discussing the allegation that “abusive words” were used against the Prime Minister, such as that he should be hit with footwear, the judge said that this is “not only derogatory but is irresponsible.” “The constructive criticism of the government policy is permissible, but the constitutional functionaries cannot be insulted for having taken a policy decision, for which, a certain section of the people may have an objection,” the court said.
Justice Chandangoudar also said that schools should not indulge in educating children to criticise policy decisions. “Dramatisation of the topics which are appealing and creative in developing a child’s interest in academics is preferable, and hovering over current political issues imprints or corrupts young minds. They should be fed with knowledge, technology, etc, which benefits them in their upcoming curriculum of the academic period,” the order read.
“Therefore the schools have to channelise the river of knowledge towards children for their welfare and betterment of society and not indulge in teaching the children to criticise the policies of the government, and also insult the constitutional functionaries for having taken particular policy decision which is not within the framework of imparting education,” the order added.
TNM had reported last month that the Karnataka High Court's Kalaburagi bench had quashed the sedition charges against the school.
When videos of the play were circulated in January 2020, Ayesha*, an 11-year-old student who uttered critical dialogues against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was targeted by right-wing groups in Bidar. A complaint was filed by right-wing activist Nilesh Rakshala against the school management, Ayesha’s mother Nazbunissa, and Fareeda Begum, a teacher at the school. The mother and teacher were arrested on January 30, nine days after the play was staged, on charges of sedition and remained in jail for two weeks before the district court granted them bail, stating in its order that there was no case of sedition.
In August 2021, the Karnataka High Court's Bengaluru bench made observations critical of the police investigation in the case. The bench comprising the then Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice NS Sanjay Gowda observed that the presence of policemen in uniforms, carrying weapons, while interrogating children in the school was a serious violation under the Juvenile Justice Act. The court also noted that the Special Juvenile Police Unit for Children sub-rule 5 stated that police officers shall wear civilian clothes when interacting with children and for dealing with a girl child, women police personnel shall be engaged.
The observations were made during the hearings of a petition filed by Nayana Jyothi Jhawar, currently an MLA from the Mudigere constituency, questioning the presence of armed police officers while questioning children in the same case. The petition claimed that 85 students, some as young as nine years, had to endure police questioning.
In an affidavit filed in court, the Karnataka police admitted that their officers erred while questioning students in the school multiple times. TNM was present at the school when investigating officers, led by the Bidar police station inspector Basaveshwara Hira, came to the school five times to interrogate students over the school play. The police asked questions about who scripted the play and chose the dialogues for it. The Karnataka police later admitted that their interrogation violated rules as officers were uniformed and armed with weapons while questioning students.
The satirical play was performed in the Dakkani language by students of Classes 4, 5, and 6 at Shaheen School. It questioned the need for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Registry of Citizens (NRC) at a time when protests had erupted in the country over the said laws.