JOIN USAnti-CAA Stir: Widowed Karnataka mother charged with sedition, child left weeping
She’s just eleven and wakes up in the dead of night crying for her mother. The child, a student of Shaheen Primary School, Bidar, hasn’t been eating well since her widowed mother was arrested five days ago on charges of sedition.
With no one to take care of her, she is now under her neighbour’s care. The caretaker told DH that though the girl has been regular to school after her mother Najamunissa’s arrest, they are worried about her health since they are unable to get her to eat properly and console her when she wakes up weeping asking for her mother.
“We are finding it difficult to manage her. As a neighbour, it is my duty to take care of her till her mother is released from jail,” he said.
The girl, who was part of a controversial play staged against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on the occasion of the annual day function at Shaheen Primary School, Bidar, thought it was just another fun activity. Shaheen Education foundation chief executive officer Dr Thouseef Madikeri said, “For the annual day function, the teachers had given each child a certain role. During the rehearsal, following the anti-CAA outrage across the nation, Najamunissa, though illiterate, taught her child to say “Joote Marenge” (We will hit you with a slipper). The girl uttered the words while enacting the play, which was immediately stopped by the school authorities on January 21.”
After the incident, the police on January 26 booked a sedition case against the school management.
A sobbing Fareeda Begum said, “Soon after the child uttered the controversial word, we scolded her and immediately stopped the play. But, someone lodged a complaint. I have been booked for sedition as I was in charge of the programme. The girl’s mother is illiterate. She is unwell and is on medication,” she said.