A man was arrested on Friday (August 16) for allegedly waving a Palestinian flag during a ‘Tiranga Rally’ on Independence Day in the Kotwali area of Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut, the police said. The incident occurred on August 15, the 78th Independence Day. A video of the incident, which surfaced online, showed the youth waving the Palestinian flag in the rally. The incident riled up many local Hindu leaders.
The accused was identified as Rashid alias Munna, a local resident.
A spokesperson for the district police said a case under Section 197(2) (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, was registered at the Kotwali Police Station in connection with the incident.
"The accused, identified as Rashid alias Munna, a local resident, was arrested from in front of a complex near Purva Ahiran," the officer said.
Palestine flag hoisted in Bhopal on Independence Day
In a separate incident in Madhya Pradesh, a 40-year-old man was arrested in Bhopal for hoisting the flag of Palestine outside his tailoring shop on Independence Day, a police official said on Friday.
"Haneef Khan was arrested for hoisting the Palestinian flag outside his shop near Geetanjali Girls College on PGBT road. He was produced before the assistant commissioner of police who remanded him in judicial custody on Friday. Khan was charged under section 2 (insulting national flag) of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act 1971," Gautam Nagar police station inspector Narendra Singh Thakur told PTI.
Thakur said Khan had insulted the Tricolour by hoisting the flag of Palestine on August 15.
Police had reached Khan's tailoring shop after local BJP and RSS leaders, including local corporator Devendra Bhargava, sought action. He had decorated his shop with balloons and flowers in saffron, white and green colours but had also placed a Palestine flag along with the Tricolour, police said.
The Palestine flag was removed and Khan was arrested after a round of questioning, the official said.
(With PTI inputs)
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