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.”
India’s new citizenship law, which was passed in December, has been accused of discriminating against Muslims and undermining the secular basis of the Indian constitution, offering an accelerated pathway of citizenship for those who are from all religions except Islam.
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. While several children were questioned, none were charged.
Bidar police chief T Sreedhara said: “We have started an investigation into the complaint by an activist who alleged that the play criticised and disrespected Modi.”
The charge of sedition, which is based on a British colonial era law, has increasingly been used against those protesting against the CAA in a bid to frame their actions as anti-nationalist. Last week, dozens of women in the state of Uttar Pradesh were charged with sedition for staging a peaceful sit-in against CAA.
There are fears that in conjunction with plans to carry out a national register of citizens (NRC) across India, it will only be the country’s 200 million Muslims who will have to provide documentation to prove their Indian nationality or face the threat of detention or deportation. It has led to one of India’s biggest periods of unrest for over forty years, with millions taking to the streets every week in protest against the CAA and NRC.
