{"id":182684,"date":"2025-09-03T09:30:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T04:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/?p=182684"},"modified":"2025-09-03T09:30:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T04:30:27","slug":"arrest-over-hoisting-palestinian-flag-at-up-school-sparks-debate-on-indias-double-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/2025\/09\/03\/arrest-over-hoisting-palestinian-flag-at-up-school-sparks-debate-on-indias-double-standards.html","title":{"rendered":"Arrest over hoisting Palestinian flag at UP school sparks debate on India\u2019s double standards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-182685\" src=\"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-1726781800-scaled-e1700578863420.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"920\" height=\"613\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-1726781800-scaled-e1700578863420.webp 920w, https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-1726781800-scaled-e1700578863420-330x220.webp 330w, https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-1726781800-scaled-e1700578863420-705x470.webp 705w, https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-1726781800-scaled-e1700578863420-768x512.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px\" \/>New Delhi: The arrest of a man in Uttar Pradesh\u2019s Lakhimpur Kheri for hoisting a Palestinian flag at a government school has sparked widespread criticism over India\u2019s selective crackdown on pro-Palestinian expressions while allowing pro-Israel demonstrations to go unchecked.<\/p>\n<p>According to Kashmir Media Service, police claimed the accused, Saddam, replaced the Indian flag at the Upper Primary School in Lakhha village with a Palestinian flag in solidarity with Gaza. He was arrested following a complaint, while a search is underway for others allegedly involved. Superintendent of Police Sankalp Sharma termed the act a \u201cserious crime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Legal experts, however, stressed that flying foreign flags is not a crime under Indian law unless the national flag is disrespected. Advocate Farhan Qureshi said the arrests send a \u201cworrying signal to democratic freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The move comes even as Hindutva groups openly waved Israeli flags, burnt Palestinian flags, and held pro-Israel rallies without facing action. Critics say this stark double standard exposes political bias in law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also slammed the government, saying peaceful solidarity with Palestine is being criminalised.<\/p>\n<p>Locals in Lakhha village expressed fear over the police crackdown, saying their peaceful gesture for Gaza victims has been treated as a crime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Delhi: The arrest of a man in Uttar Pradesh\u2019s Lakhimpur Kheri for hoisting a Palestinian flag at a government school has sparked widespread criticism over India\u2019s selective crackdown on pro-Palestinian expressions while allowing pro-Israel demonstrations to go unchecked. According to Kashmir Media Service, police claimed the accused, Saddam, replaced the Indian flag at the &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":182685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-182684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india","tag-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-1726781800-scaled-e1700578863420.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}