Guwahati, Aug 17: A school headmistress in Assam was arrested on Saturday after a video showing her allegedly disrespecting the national flag went viral on social media.
The headmistress has been identified as Fatema Khatun of the Samaguri area in central Assam’s Nagaon district.
Khatun was seen folding the national flag with her legs on the school premises. The video, widely circulated on social media, showed her lowering the tricolour on Saturday morning, though the flag was scheduled to be lowered on Friday evening after Independence Day celebrations.
Police arrested her under Section 2 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971. Later, the Nagaon CJM court remanded her to 14 days’ judicial custody.
According to police, the accused teacher went to the school alone around 7:30 am on Saturday, opened the gate, and lowered the flag in an “objectionable manner.”
“She hoisted the flag in the presence of students on Independence Day, but on Saturday morning she came alone and lowered it,” a police officer said.
Police added that she went early as the school authorities had forgotten to lower the flag on Friday, which had drawn criticism from villagers. Locals later gathered at the school to condemn what they called an “insult to the national flag.”
