The interrogation of children by well-armed policemen in uniform at a school in the Bidar region of Karnataka last January in a sedition case was prima facie a “serious case of violation of the rights of children” and provisions of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, Karnataka High Court noted on Monday.
The case was filed over a play opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
“Prima facie this is a serious case of infringement of the rights of children and provision 86 (5) of JJ Act 2015,” a division bench of the High Court mentioned in the way of hearing a petition against the interrogation of children over the play against CAA, staged in January 2020 at a primary school run by Shaheen Education Society in Bidar.
The court had first directed the Karnataka government to inform on whether children at the private school were questioned by uniformed police personnel.
The HC bench guided to pictures of the investigation of three children from the school by five policemen and said that the rights of the children had been infringed during the examination. The legality of the pictures was not dismissed by Bidar district police in submissions to the court.
The HC sought details of action taken against police personnel who infringed child rights and asked the state to issue rules to stop similar conditions from arising in the state.
