Chhattisgarh: 5 held in Bilaspur for putting up ‘Palestine-like’ flags

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh police have arrested five persons in Bilaspur for putting up flags that ‘resembled’ Palestinian flags on Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi.
Aged 19-24, the youths were rounded up after right wing outfits demanded action. Police called it ‘preventive arrest’ and said the five youngsters will be released soon.
“Five people were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly putting up flags resembling that of Palestine (flag) on Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi.Since the flags were put up on Tarbahar route, from where religious rallies were to be taken out, police took action as soon as a complaint was received,” Bilaspur IG Range Sanjeev Shukla said.
He sought to explain that since it was a festival day for different communities, considering the “sensitivity of the matter”, action was taken to prevent any law and order situation,
The case was lodged on a complaint from Hindu Ekta Manch, whose members pressured police to take immediate action.
A police team went to the spot and removed the flags from terraces of some houses and registered a case under BNS section 197-2 (offence at assembly engaged in religious performance) against Sheikh Azeem (19), Sheikh Sameer Baksh (20), Sheikh Sameer (22), Mohammad Shoaib (23) and Fidel Khan (24). They got the flags stitched from a local tailor who identified them.
They are unemployed and have no suspicious background or ideological inclination, police sources said. According to police, they said they wanted to express solidarity with Palestinians who are suffering extreme atrocities in the Israel-Hamas war.
Since when is it a crime, asked Bilaspur advocate Priyanka Shukla. “Even if the youths displayed the Palestine flag, how does that create a law and order situation or is ‘communal’? It’s not a crime to put up a flag of Palestine,” she said, sharing a video of a right-wing activist threatening those hoisting the flag.
Shukla, who is also an Aam Aadmi Party functionary, told TOI that the five youths were produced in court on Tuesday but couldn't get bail as they were brought late in the evening and lacked proper documents.