At least 30 university students in the Indian state of Kerala have been hired by the police for "allegedly waving a flag similar to that of Pakistan on their campus", AND ME reported.
The incident occurred Thursday at Silver College, Perambra, in the Kozhikode district of Kerala.
As part of the union electoral campaign, students belonging to the Muslim Student Front (MSF) were carrying out a procession that included waving a large green and white flag similar to that of Pakistan.
The students claimed that they had waved the MSF flag but its large size had caused confusion, according to AND ME.
Students have been reserved under Sections 143 (whoever is a member of an illegal assembly, will be punished with imprisonment for any description for a term that may extend to six months or a fine), 147 (disturbance punishment), 153 (meaningless provocation with the intention of causing disturbances) and 149 (each member of the illegal assembly may be guilty of a crime committed in the prosecution of a common object) of the Criminal Code of India.
The police are investigating the identity of the students and "will take the necessary measures," the AND ME report said.
According to India today, the police have not found anything suspicious so far while investigating the background of the students in question.
"We have asked about the background of the students involved in this, as of now there is nothing suspicious or alarming about their past. The students claim that the error occurred while printing the flag, we are checking the facts anyway." Peramabara CI said India Today TV.
The Indian publication said that a member of the student organization attributed the accident to a printing error, as well as to the negligence of not detecting it.
"They [students] did not properly inspect the flag after printing. Our flag has two equal halves of white and green with MSF marked on the white side. But this flag was out of proportion, so it looked like the Pakistani flag, "he said.
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1502785/30-college-students-in-indias-kerala-state-booked-for-waving-pakistan-flag
