Not allowed to hoist flag, says Muslim woman

HYDERABAD: Justice

Challa Kodanda Ram

of the

Hyderabad High Court

on Friday directed the SP of

Suryapet district

to file his counter affidavit to a petition filed by a Congress municipal councillor accusing the police of detaining her and her husband for two hours in the police station, with the sole aim of preventing them from participating in the Independence Day celebrations and national flag hoisting ceremony on 15 August.

The judge was hearing a petition filed by Mohammed Shaheen Begum, the councillor of the 29th ward, Suryapet, and also the Congress floor leader of the municipality .

Her counsel Jandhyala Ravi Shankar told the court that on August 15, she was supposed to participate in the flag hoisting function at the municipal office by 8am and later she was to hoist the flag in her ward at 8.30am. When she was going to attend the celebrations on her husband's bike, the police authorities stopped them and took them to two different police stations. While her husband was taken to the

Suryapet

rural police station, the municipal councillor was taken to town police station, the counsel alleged. They were kept at police stations' for two hours. The counsel said when it was repeatedly reminded to the police that they were going to flag hoisting ceremony, the police used objectionable language saying that people from Muslim religion were anti-national and, hence, were not entitled to hoist the national flag.This is at a time when the Country's Prime Minister himself is calling upon Muslims to hoist tricolour particularly on Madrasas, Ravi Shankar said.

“This is contrary to the right conferred on the citizens to fly the national flag freely ,“ he said adding that this also amounted to an insult to the flag code and undermined the fundamental rights guaranteed to the citizens. The judge issued notices to the police authorities and sought their response within four weeks.