The recent waves of anti-CAA and NRC protests across the country have resulted in only violence and rioting as seen in Delhi early this week. Apart from this common thread of violence, the other thing that can be seen almost at every other protest site is the use of little children as pawns of propaganda. In the garb of protests, innocent children are being instigated and radicalised. In some cases, they are being used in violence-related activities and one is left to wonder if these protestors are really against the government or to divide the country by brain-washing children.
The death of four-month-old infant Mohammed Jahaan earlier this month proved the fact as to how even infants are being used as a tool in the protests. The little Jahaan used to accompany his mother almost every day to the Shaheen Bagh demonstration where he drew a lot of attention for photo-ops and publicity. The cold-wave was still on in the National Capital at the time and therefore it was not the best of decisions to subject an infant to such harsh temperatures. The baby died after acquiring a severe cold and congestion following exposure to the winter chill at the outdoor demonstration.
The family of the baby hails from Bareilly and is barely able to make ends meet with the father an embroidery worker and also an e-rickshaw driver, yet the mother spent days sitting in the protests and all it led to was the untimely demise of a little soul. And in a height of irony, the family still blamed the government for their son not being alive. The blood of the infant is squarely on the hands of the perpetrators of Shaheen Bagh. Vicious lies are routinely spread at Shaheen Bagh daily by visible secessionists, which are readily bought by a passive audience to be the gospel truth. One wonders how long, and just how many more infants need to die in order for this circus to be shut down.
On January 24, thousands of people including some children attended a rally in South Goa to protest the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR) in South Goa’s Lohia maidan. The organisers of the anti-CAA rally in Goa have been booked for allowing children at the rally. According to the police complaint filed by a child rights NGO, Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN), the organisers of the event had violated child rights by exposing the minors to political ideology and aggressive derogatory language. The rally was mobilised by civil society groups including the Council for Social Justice and Peace, the social action arm of the Catholic Church in Goa. The organisers have been booked under sections of the Goa Children’s Act and the Juvenile Justice Act.
In another case, a sedition case was slapped against two women — the headmistress of Shaheen school and the mother of a 9-year-old student for their alleged involvement in staging a drama against the CAA and the NRC at the institution.
A play had been organised in the school by the students during the Republic Day celebrations which had allegedly portrayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi in poor light over CAA and NRC. Nazbunnisa, 26, the mother of the girl who participated in the play, and Fareeda Begum, 52, the headteacher of Shaheen School, who staged it, were arrested by Bidar New Town Police Station officers. The two were booked under Sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes), 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting, attempting to promote disharmony) and 34 (common intent) of the IPC. The complainant alleged that the school’s authorities ‘used’ the students to perform a drama where they “abused” Modi in the context of the CAA and the NRC.
Another incident has emerged at Kanhaiya Kumar’s rally in Gandhi Maidan where a controversial speech of a child is going viral. The child shouted slogans of Azadi and Modi Murdabad after his speech and looked a minion of Kanhaiya Kumar’s hate-filled politics. Interestingly, AAP after sitting on the files for over a year has finally given the nod to persecute Kanhaiya and nine others in connection with a sedition case registered against them in February 2016.
At a tender age when children should be out there playing, studying and enjoying the wonders of childhood, they are being subjected to such extremism. Human lives are not a commodity, and understanding this is one of the factors that makes us a civilized person. Infants like Jahaan should not have to die like this. The outrage is not enough, the authorities need to step in and stop this barbarism. Clearing Shaheen Bagh or charging those responsible for these deaths might not change mindsets, but it is our duty nonetheless. At least for the sake of justice, for the sake of the innocent infants.