Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: August 23, 2022 at 19:37 IST
Mohammed Kasim HK, the general secretary of the BJP in Lakshadweep, was recently granted anticipatory bail by the Kerala High Court. He was accused of holding the Indian national flag—green on top and saffron at the bottom—inverted.
Mohammed Kasim HK was booked under Section 2 of the 1971 Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act.
The Justice Viju Abraham’s Bench granted anticipatory bail after observing that it might not be necessary, the custodial interrogation of the petitioner.
The prosecution’s case is supported by a picture of the accused holding the flag with the saffron side up.
The petitioner-accused would not have committed an offence, according to the petitioner’s advocates’ arguments before the court, because the flag was not displayed in a public place inside the petitioner’s own house. He was said to have held the flag mistakenly upside down.
Additionally, it was submitted that the petitioner apologised to the public right away after realising his mistake.
The petitioner was allegedly involved in five additional criminal cases, according to the standing advocate for Lakshadweep, who opposed the plea.
However, the High Court allowed the petitioner’s plea for pre-arrest bail with some restrictions. The petitioner must appear before the investigating officer for interrogation on August 29th, and if he is arrested, he must be brought before the judicial magistrate that same day and granted bail in exchange for a bond of Rs. 50,000 from two sureties.
