Udaipur district collector Tarachand Meena issued an order on Wednesday, April 5, which prohibited the installation of religious symbols such as flags on public or other people's property, The Times of India (TOI) has reported. The order has been implemented in the entire urban and rural districts of Udaipur. The order will be applicable from April 5 until the next two months.
The District Collector of Udaipur prohibited hositing of flags with religious symbols under Section 144 of the Udaipur Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 The order prohibited any such hoisting without the prior approval of competent authorities.
The order is applicable to public properties, including government or corporation buildings, public community buildings, rest houses, public parks, road intersections, and electric and telephone poles, the report added.
According to the order, violators would be prosecuted under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The order was issued days after five men were arrested for hoisting saffron flags at the Kumbhalgarh fort. Notably, the incident took place soon after religious preacher Dhirendra Shastri called for such an activity on March 23.
Police filed a case against the religious leader under various sections, including hurting religious sentiments, for his statement calling for replacing flags of a specific colour with saffron flags at the fort, the TOI report said.
