Kochi: In a blow to Kerala’s Left government, the High Court here said that hoisting black flags in front of the Chief Minister’s convoy was not an illegal act and did not amount to defamation. Justice B Kurian Thomas’ judgment assumes significance as some Youth Congress workers faced police action for showing black flags to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during the state government’s public relations program ‘Nav Kerala Sadas’ last year.
Justice Thomas said, “Although the signs thus expressed may be a way of defaming a person, showing or waving a black flag at a person cannot be defamation nor is it an illegal act.”
The court gave the decision while quashing the final report against three persons for hoisting black flags in front of Vijayan’s convoy passing through North Paravur near here in 2017. The court said that waving a black flag in general is a sign of protest and unless a law is made to prohibit it, such conduct does not fall within the ambit of the offense of defamation. (language)
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