Fact Check: Those calling for the arrest of this man for burning Tricolour are late

New Delhi, Aug 04: The 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign has been launched by the government of India ahead of India's 75th year of independence on August 15. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also urged people to change their social media profile pictures to the Indian Tricolour as part of this campaign.

Amidst this a set of photographs featuring a young man burning the Indian flag has gone viral. There are several posts that call for the arrest of this man.

OneIndia has learnt that this picture is not a recent one. It was from 2016 when the man was arrested for burning the national flag. A report published in February 2016 says Dileep Mahendran, a resident of Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu had uploaded pictures of him burning the national flag on January 29 that same year. He was arrested by the police.

He was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act and the IT Act. A court then sent him to jail.

Mahendran had burnt the flag to mark seven years since the death of journalist K Muthukumar who had self-immolated himself to protest India's inaction during the genocide of Tamils which marked the end of Sri-Lanka's civil war. Dileepan had taken part in an event following which he burnt the flag.

Following the incident his lawyer, Elangovan had told reporters that Dileepan is very passionate about social issues and that is why he did this. Who burns the flag for the sake of burning it, he said. He had a list of 30 demands which were not met and he ended up burning the flag to get people's attention, the lawyer also said.

Hence it is clear that the images of the man burning the national flag are not recent and are from 2016.