The Madhya Pradesh police on Tuesday registered a criminal case against sellers on e-commerce giant Amazon’s shopping platform for selling Indian flag-themed shoes, T-shirts and other fashion accessories on the site, a senior police officer said.
Bhopal commissioner of police Makrand Deouskar said the case was registered under section 2 of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and section 505 (2) (creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) of IPC after home minister Narottam Mishra’s orders. Deouskar said the case was registered by the crime branch which will lead the probe.At a Press briefing earlier in the day, Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra said: “It has come to my notice that the online platform is using the national flag for the sale of its products.
It is unbearable that it has even been used on shoes. I have instructed the director-general of police (DGP) to take action by registering an FIR against the owners of Amazon.”“Prima facie, this case appears to be a violation of the Flag Code, which is painful. Insult to the nation will not be tolerated at any cost,” he added.A police officer said the case was registerd on a complaint filed by a 26-year-old private firm executive Shubham Naidu and clarified that the case names the seller as the prime accused.The exact details of the items considered offensive were not shared by the police. The Amazon, in a statement said that as per government of india's notification usage of flag is allowed in certain types of products. Also most of the pics on the twitter were of google search and not products sold on amazon.
Also more importantly, sellers are responsible for the products that they list for selling on amazon. He added, "This appears an attempt by offline line trader bodies to discredit Amazon and independent sellers on Amazon."This is the third time that Narottam Mishra ordered the police to register an FIR against the e-commerce platform in recent months. November last year, a FIR was registered against Amazon after a seller was accused of selling marijuana on the website in Bhind district. A few days later, a second FIR was registered after a youth died by suicide by consuming a poison that he ordered from the site. The home minister also said the state will come up with a law to keep a check on the sale of products on online shopping sites.