Gorakhpur: In a sedition case filed against four Muslim men for allegedly hoisting Pakistan flags at their residence, the Gorakhpur police are reported to be filing a closure report on the basis of preliminary inquiry that found it was religious flags.
Though the police asserted that they could not find any objectionable words written on the flags and made no arrest, the sedition charge was slapped on them on the insistence of a group of people who protested outside the houses of the men after photographs of 'Pakistan flags' at the two houses went viral on social media.
The four businessmen, Talim, Pappu, Ashiq and his brother Asif, who were booked in the case are from two families staying in the Chauri Chaura area of Gorakhpur at a distance of 200 metres, according to The Indian Express.
The protestors pelted stones at the two houses and damaged a four-wheeler. The members of the two families locked themselves in their houses when the police reached the spot and upon enquiry the family denied the allegations and handed over the four flags.
They claimed that the flags were stitched by women members of their families. One of the flags had Urdu text on it. The families told police that they unfurled the flags on the rooftop of their houses on the occasion of the 'Barawafat' festival.
After the festival, they did not remove the flags, they added. A sedition case was filed on the basis of a complaint by the president of Brahmin Jan Kalyan Samiti, Kalyan Pandey.