Srinagar, Aug 14: A bid by a group of six non-Kashmiri persons to unfurl the tricolour at the city centre Lal Chowk today turned ugly with some locals objecting to the flag hoisting and trying to rough up three of them.
The trio caught in a spat with the locals over their flag hoisting bid had to be rescued, police said.
As the group, apparently from outside Srinagar, sought to hoist the flag at the historic Ghantaghar (Clock Tower) at Lal Chowk. However, passersby and some shopkeepers objected to their flag-hosting and entered into a verbal spat with them while certain other started raising slogans.
The group would have been manhandled by the locals had police not intervened. While three members of the group fled the spot immediately after sensing the aggressiveness of the crowd, three others were rescued by the police who whisked them away.
“The police intervened in time and before the three could be roughed up, the police whisked them away,” said a police official, adding that they were later let off
It was not immediately known who these persons were, but they were certainly not from Kashmir, witnesses said.
“The incident took place at around 1pm this afternoon, they were planning to hoist tricolor on Ghanta-Ghar. However some passerby caught hold of them and thrashed them. They were later handed over to police,” a street vendor, who sells used clothes in Lal Chowk told ‘Kashmir Images’.
Police spokesman in a statement said Police Station Maisuma has taken cognizance of the incident and registered a case (FIR No 27/2018) under section 341, 506 and 323 RPC and investigation has been initiated.
This is not the first time that such incident has taken place in Lal Chowk.
Last year also, around a dozen activists of rightwing Shiv Sena tried to hoist the tricolour at the clock tower, but were detained by the police.
