3 min readBidar, KarnatakaFeb 16, 2020 07:28 AM IST
First published on: Feb 16, 2020 at 04:07 AM IST
The school’s headmistress, Fareeda Begum, also held on sedition charges, was released from jail a day after the two were granted bail. (Express Photo: Sreenivas Janyala)
The nine-year-old was uttering a prayer while waiting to meet her mother after 17 days. At times, she smiled shyly, while sometimes there were tears.
“I am praying that she is released today. I want to hug her, I want to take her home. I want sleep peacefully beside her,” she said on Saturday morning, waiting at the home of an official of Shaheen Group of Institutions, which runs her school, Shaheen Urdu Primary School, at Shahpur Gate in Bidar.
A few hours later, her mother Najmunissa, 35, stepped out of Bidar District Jail at 6 pm. In 20 minutes, the two were reunited, hugging and crying.
A single parent, Najmunissa was put in jail on sedition charges after her daughter — a Class V student – spoke against the CAA in a school play.
The school’s headmistress, Fareeda Begum, also held on sedition charges, was released from jail a day after the two were granted bail.
Her daughter, Najmunissa told The Sunday Express, wants to know what she did in jail during these 17 days, and is “eager to tell me what all she did while waiting for me”.
She said: “All she wants now is to be alone with me so that we can talk. When I met her today after being released, it was like seeing my daughter for the first time – she is the only one I have; I prayed all the time for her safety.”
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While her mother was in prison, the nine-year-old said she sometimes stayed at their rented room in Maniar Taleem Colony. “I used to sleep in the same room as the landlord’s wife but I could not sleep. She helped me a lot, as I used to wake up crying at night…I missed my mother,” she said.
At times, she would stay over at the home of a school teacher after school. “I felt lonely and sad because all I have is my mother. I have never lived without her for a single day. So I was terrified,” the girl said.
“I have to tell her everything that happened at school — there is so much to tell my mother. I missed her so much,” she said shyly.
The school’s headmistress, Fareeda Begum, also held on sedition charges, was released from jail a day after the two were granted bail. (Express Photo: Sreenivas Janyala)
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