Sedition case on Shaheen School: MLA U T Khader hits out at BJP govt
Bidar, Feb 4: The police has intensified investigation into the 'sedition case' against the management and staff of a school here, where children had allegedly insulted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others, in the context of CAA, in a drama they staged on January 21.
As part of the probe, the police visited Shaheen school on Tuesday this time in plain clothes, after their questioning of children in uniform on January 28 drew criticism from some quarters, a school official said.
"Morning three police personnel came with two members of Karnataka State Child Rights Protection Commission. Later, the deputy superintendent of police H Basaveshwara joined them.
The cops were in civil dress," the official said.
The police have been questioning the children and staff about those who wrote the script and assigned to deliver specific dialogues.
Police have already arrested Nazbunnisa, the mother of one of the children, who had allegedly delivered the controversial dialogue and their teacher Fareeda Begum, who oversaw the event.
When contacted, the deputy superintendent of police of Bidar H Basaveshwara refused to comment on the matter saying that he was still investigating the case.
Meanwhile in Bengaluru, Congress MLA and former minister U T Khader slammed the BJP government in the state as well as the Centre for "filing sedition charges against people".
Addressing a press conference, he alleged that the Central and state governments were trying to suppress the voice of people in the country using law enforcement agencies.
Khader claimed that the two women who "depicted the problems they were facing" in the drama were booked under the sedition law.
During investigation, the children were forced to sit at the police station, he alleged.
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England sticking with Key, McCullum and Stokes despite Ashes humbling
London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.
“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.
“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”
The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”
