Jammu: Police said on Saturday that an FIR was lodged for insulting the tricolour, after the national flag was allegedly displayed upside down during a rally led by senior BJP leader Rajiv Jasrotia in Kathua district. A police official said that the FIR was registered on Friday against unknown persons in Kathua Police Station under Section 2 (insulting the national flag or the Constitution) of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act,. Vinod Nijhawan, a local resident, in a complaint alleged that the national flag was disrespected during the rally led by Jasrotia, who is the BJP MLA from Kathua constituency and a former minister, and BJP candidate Rahul Dev Sharma on Thursday, the official said. Jasrotia, had accompanied Sharma in a procession from his Shiv Nagar residence to file nomination papers for ward number 19 on Thursday for the Urban Local Body polls. The official said that the complainant presented a video clip purportedly showing a person, just behind the BJP legislator, holding the tricolor upside down during the procession which covered a distance of over two kilometres. In his complaint, Nijhawan said the act was “very heinous” and hurt the “sentiments of the patriotic citizens of India”. The official said an investigation was underway in the matter.]]>
