‘Seditious’ play in Karnataka school: Congress leaders call for CM’s intervention for release of women

“By no stretch of imagination can such an innocent act of protest be perceived as sedition or treason. We suspect the police have succumbed to pressure from vested interests and some local political leaders. The state government should direct the police to withdraw the case and release the arrested women,” the delegation said in its letter to Sood.

The visit came after another delegation went to Bidar to meet the arrested women and school officials on Tuesday.

“There has been widespread misuse of the law against sedition, affecting the lives of the vulnerable. The government cannot be equated with the nation. The nation is a bigger entity than the government,” the delegation said while stating that the IPC section on sedition can be misinterpreted.

“Ìt is open for misinterpretation to such an extent by the authorities who may think that a school play can be seditious,” the letter further said.

“They (authorities) have called the language used by the children as anti-national and have filed a case against the school. In one week, the police have gone to the school on five occasions and treated them (students) as culprits. This is not befitting of a civic society. When we do not agree with the government or if we disagree with someone in power, it does not become anti-national or treacherous,” the former Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly Ramesh Kumar said after meeting the DGP.

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