After spending more than two weeks in prison over an anti-NRC satirical play, the mother of a student and a head-teacher at Shaheen Primary and High School in Bidar were granted bail by the district and sessions court today. The two will be released against a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh each, the court said.

“The accused/petitioners will be released on bail… on their executing personal bond in a sum of Rs. 1 lakh each with two sureties for the like sum to the satisfaction of the Jurisdictional Magistrate,” Judge M Premavathi said in her bail order.

The two women have also been asked by the court to appear before the investigating officer in the case when they are called upon.

“We are happy to hear that bail was granted to both the teacher and the mother of the student. We still can’t believe that a satirical play critical of NRC attracted a charge of sedition,” Tauseef Madikeri, administrator of Shaheen Primary and High School told us after the bail was confirmed.

Najam Unnisa, the mother of a student, and Fareeda Begum, the head-teacher of the school’s primary section, were arrested on January 30. The bail granted on Friday means that Najam Unnisa will finally be reunited with her daughter after two weeks.

For the last two weeks, the two women were lodged in Bidar District Prison even as 11-year-old Ayesha* (name changed) waited for her mother to return. Najam Unissa is a widow and her arrest had left Ayesha in the care of their neighbour, Hafeez. She was shifted to the school hostel this week.

Representing the two women in court, advocate BT Venkatesh had, during the hearing on February 11, argued that the case was politically motivated and that two women in a place like Bidar were not a threat to the state. He stated that the slogans in the play did not create unrest and promote disaffection towards the government. He added that the contents of the play did not amount to sedition.

The public prosecutor argued that the women would leave the country and possibly destroy evidence if they are granted bail. The prosecutor cited the recent case of Kris Chudawala, who was booked along with 50 others for sedition in Mumbai.

The arguments in the case were completed on February 11 and the bail orders were posted for February 14.

The orders on anticipatory bail application filed by the Chairman of Allama Iqbal Education Society, which runs the Shaheen Institutions across the country, will be issued on Monday, Feburary 17.