Indian primary school faces sedition charge after play about citizenship law
The Indian police are investigating a primary school for sedition over a student play which voiced opposition to the prime minister and his controversial new citizenship law. Students aged nine and 10 at Shaheen school in Bidar, in the state of Karnataka, were interrogated by police over several days for putting on a play that had a theme allegedly opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and included “slurs” against prime minister Narendra Modi.
The headteacher of the school, Yusuf Ahamed, expressed outrage that both students and teachers had been questioned by the police over the play. “Police have been visiting the school on a daily basis over the past three days and inquiring about the children and their teachers,” he told local media. “They are being treated like anti-nationals.”…
Footage from the five-minute theatrical performance by the Shaheen students, which showed some pupils discussing the fears faced by Muslims due to the CAA and singing a Bollywood song that has become a protest rallying cry, had gone viral on social media and prompted a member of Modi’s BJP party to file an official complaint. Police have charged senior management at the school with provocation, sedition and promotion of enmity.…
SEE ALSO:
- IIT-Bombay bans ‘anti-national’ activities on Powai campus (Jan 29, 2020, Times of India)
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/73732095.cms - FIR Against Visva-Bharati VC for Telling Right-Wing Students to ‘Give Medicine’ to Others (Jan 26, 2020, The Wire)
https://thewire.in/rights/visva-bharati-vc-bidyut-chakrabarty-fir - Dr. Kafeel Khan arrested in Mumbai for remarks at anti-CAA rally in AMU (Jan 30, 2020, Sabrang India)
https://www.sabrangindia.in/article/dr-kafeel-khan-arrested-mumbai-remarks-anti-caa-rally-amu - The real threat is the perceived victimhood of the majority: Kannan Gopinathan (Jan 31, 2020, The Hindu)
https://www.thehindu.com/society/the-real-threat-is-the-perceived-victimhood-of-the-majority-kannan-gopinathan/article30702515.ece
