Bengaluru: In the ongoing sedition row involving a school in Bidar, its management, teachers and students, along with their parents, the Karnataka High Court, on Monday, March 9, asked police officials to respond to pictures of officers in uniform questioning the children.

The High Court is currently hearing a petition filed by advocate Nayana Jyothi Jhawar and the South India Cell For Human Rights Education and Monitoring, an NGO that has demnded that action be taken against the police for the way in which they handled the case.

According to a report by TNM, on Monday, a High Court bench led by Chief Justice Abhay Sreeniwas Oka asked the Bidar police whether they were in uniform when they were questioning the students of Shaheen Primary and High School, for staging a play critical of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Suggesting that the photographs could have been doctored, Karnataka Attorney General (AG) Prabhuling Navadgi said that the pictures would be verified to check if the police officers were in uniform.

Meanwhile, Basaveshwara Hira, the investigating officer in the sedition case filed against school authorities in Bidar, was asked by the HC to file an affidavit based on the photographs submitted by the petitioner.

It can be recalled that, contrary to the state government’s counsel’s statement that the police officers were not in uniform while questioning the students, photographs published in the media, that were later submitted to the court by the petitioner, showed that some police officials were in uniform.

It can also be recalled that on February 14, the HC granted bail to Nazbunissa, the mother of a student and Fareeda Begum, the head teacher of the school’s primary section, who were jailed in connection with this case.