Taking strong exception to an image of the iconic Red Fort without the National Flag fluttering atop going viral in the social media, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is seeking action in the matter under the Information and Technology (IT) Act, terming it as cyber crime.
The ASI, an autonomous body under the Union Culture Ministry has asked the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the security agency entrusted with the task of the monument’s security, to register an FIR against the creator of the image posted on social media.
Calling the post as ‘malicious,’ the ASI has clarified that as per the code, the National Flag should be flown from sunrise to sunset and there was no question of violation of the code.
This is the second time in the recent days that Red Fort is in news. Just a few days ago, the opposition and historians had attacked the Government for ‘illegally handing’ over the maintenance of the monument to a corporate group, Bharat Dalmia.
An ASI official called the post showing Red Fort minus national flag with the claim that ‘the tricolour has been removed from the monument for the first time in 70 years’ to be the “dirty job of some mischievous elements to malign the name of the organization as well as the country”.
He said that the CISF daily files a report detailing the time of hoisting (during sun rise) and de-hoisting (sunset time) the National Flag. “We are seeking a case under the cyber crime against the account creator. The police will investigate to find out the IP number of the user responsible for uploading the misleading image,” the official said.
For the last few days, the picture of the historical monument without the national flag has been doing rounds in the social media ---shared by more than 29,000 people and had over 12,000 reactions on one Facebook post. It said, “70 saal baad pehli baar lal kile se tiranga hata dia gaya (The Tricolour has been removed from the Red Fort for the first time in 70 years)”. The image was posted by a page called ‘With INC’, which has more than 6,00,000 likes. It has also gone viral on WhatsApp.
Section III, Subsection 3.6 of the Indian Flag Code 2002 states, “Where the practice is to fly the flag on any public building, it shall be flown on that building on all days including Sundays and holidays and, except as provided in this code, it shall be flown from sunrise to sunset irrespective of weather conditions.
The flag may be flown on such a building at night also but this should be only on very special occasions.”