NEW DELHI: An objectionable video of a Hindu teen tearing the Indian flag by pretending to be from Muslim community has gone viral on Twitter and Facebook generating a host of communal responses.
The incident is from Surat, Gujarat and the boys an his friend just 14 years of age is from the Hindu community.
In the video, the teenaged boy proclaim himself as ‘Pakka Musalmaan’ (devout Muslim) is seen holding up the flag of India and then tearing a paper of tricolor to pieces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=layea3PigeI
The video was posted by a @AnuMishraBJP, a fake account of journalist Rohit Sradana, that is followed by at least one BJP leader, Tejinder Singh Bagga.
https://twitter.com/AnuMishraBJP/status/1031453026052202497
A subsequent video that also went viral which shows people in his neighbourhood thrashing and abusing the boy when they discovered the boy was not Muslim but Hindu. In a second version, the boy is seen saying “Pukka Hindu hoon,” (I am a devout Hindu).
Watch the second video here
According to Alt News, Suresh Chavhanke, Editor-in-Chief of Sudarshan News, has also tweeted a longer version of the video and went on to justify lynching.
पक्का मुसलमान हूँ इसलिए तिरंगा फाड़ के फेंकने वाला “स्वामी अग्निवेश” संस्कार होते ही #भारत_माता_की_जय बोल कर नारे देने लगा। लातों के भूत बातों से नहीं मानते। अब कोई कहेगा कि ये तो #Lynching है पर कोई यह भी बताए कि संविधान इस को कैसे रोक सकता है? क़ानून तो इनको रोकने में विफल है ! pic.twitter.com/MvVgV3UcSL
— Suresh Chavhanke “Sudarshan News” (@SureshChavhanke) August 21, 2018
Sedition charge would have been applied in case of a Muslim but police authorities let them off with a warning after they apologised for their act.