HC denies bail to youth held for insult to tricolour

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh high court has denied bail to a youth who was arrested on charges of insulting national flag by posting and sharing a caricature of a dog wrapped in tricolour and a lion in Pakistan's national flag.
Rehan alias Shahrukh Khan, a resident of Mandla district, was charged under sections for Rashtriya Gaurav Apman Nivaran Adhiniyam (Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act) and Information Technology (IT) Act on June 25 this year on the basis of a complaint lodged by a youth Sonu Yadav.
Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act,1971, prohibits desecration of or insult to the country's national symbols, including flag, constitution and anthem.
It says "Whoever in any public place or in any other place within public view burns, mutilates, defaces, defiles, disfigures, destroys, tramples upon or otherwise shows disrespect to or brings into contempt (whether by words, either spoken or written or by acts) the Indian national flag or any part thereof, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or fine, or both"
'Indian National Flag' includes any picture, painting, drawing or photograph, or other visible representation of the Indian flag, or of any part or parts thereof, made of any substance or represented on any substance. A single bench of Justice Subhash Kakde on Friday dismissed bail plea after hearing arguments from a panel of lawyers on behalf of state government who said alleged conduct of disrespecting national flag was highly condemnable. They also said accused used a false identity of one Uday Chandra to post the picture.