BIDAR: The management of a private school in Bidar has been slapped with a sedition case for allegedly getting a group of Class IV students to enact a play with an anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) theme and hurl "communal slurs" at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The FIR is based on a complaint received by Bidar police station from one Neelesh Rakshyala last Sunday, five days after the performance at Shaheen School. A Facebook video purportedly showing the play and the reactions of the audience, including a girl shouting an allegedly anti-Modi slogan, has been cited as proof of the performance being used to drum up "anti-national sentiments".

Shaheen School, part of the Shaheen Group of Institutions and managed by the Allama Iqbal Educational Society, on Tuesday contested the allegations. "Cops have been visiting the school on a daily basis over the past three days and inquiring about the children and their teachers. They are being treated like anti-nationals," said Yusuf Ahamed, director of the school.

According to the complainant, the Class IV kids acting in the play were made to mouth dialogues that were "anti-national" in nature. Slogans targeting PM Modi were also heard during the "scripted" performance, he said.

The police have booked the school management for provocation, sedition and promotion of enmity under sections 504, 505(2), 124(A) and 153 (A) of the IPC.

Bidar SP T Sreedhara denied that students of the institution were being harassed in the name of an investigation. "The children are being quizzed in accordance with legal investigation procedures. There has been no harassment. A few people are spreading false news to hamper the probe," he said.

The Shaheen Group of Institutions runs around 43 educational establishments across 13 states. In 2018, as many as 327 students from Bidar alone got into medical colleges by cracking NEET, a school official said.