Chennai cops arrest youth who burnt flag

Chennai: A 25-year-old youth who stoked a controversy by burning the national flag and posting it in his Facebook page was arrested by city police on Monday on charges of insulting national honour.

Police identified him as Dhilipan Mahendran, (25), a native of Nagapattinam. He  was picked up from Royapettah by Pulianthope police, which was pursuing a complaint by a fringe right-wing group in this regard.

By the time he was arrested, the youth had already formatted his mobile phone’s micro-SD card. However, he admitted to have committed the offence. The police are questioning the youth for further details. He is in the process of being produced before a city magistrate for remand.

He was booked under section 153-B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) IPC, and Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act and IT Act.

The youth started getting attention in social media after some persons demanded his immediate arrest. This argument was met with counter comments and theories of his supporters as what these self-claimed patriots were doing when the Tricolor was allegedly desecrated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tennis star Sania Mirza, and bikini models on numerous occasions.

Complaints were pouring in against the youth in online platforms as well as in person with the city police commissionerate.

Started off with two complaints on Saturday, the number kept ticking, as some even preferred their complaints through the official FB page of Chennai police.

The youth whose Facebook book page from which the images went viral had also pictures of his social activities, including provision of bed-sheets to pavement dwellers and flood relief works in which he involved himself.