New Delhi: The morality brigade is out on the street again to protest against Mandira Bedi's flag fiasco on a satellite television channel during the live telecast of the World Cup cricket final on Saturday.
The controversy erupted after the TV anchor was spotted wearing a sari, which had an image of the Indian Tricolour below her waist, which was against the constitutional norm.
Mandira's sari on the occasion had images of national flags of all the cricket-playing nations printed on it. But the image of the Indian Tricolour was in a rather disrespectful position below her knee level.
Mandira wasted no time in offering an unqualified apology on the same channel hours after the national media pointed out the aberration and flashed it on news channels and websites. Alerted in Barbados about the stir created by her sari in India, Mandira had also changed her outfit during the mid-innings break.
"My having worn the sari seems to have upset some of my fellow Indians. I'm a proud Indian and I meant absolutely no disrespect to the Indian flag or to the flag of any other country. If I have upset anyone, I'm deeply sorry. It was inadvertent and unintentional," Mandira said on the same show during the mid-session.
But the morality brigade will take none of it. Shiv Sainiks were out on the streets of Indore on Sunday protesting against what they called an insult to the National Tricolour while in Jaipur an FIR was filed against Bedi and sari designer Puneet Nanda.
The Shiv Sainiks set fire to Bedi's effigy and said they would file a case against her in a local court under the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act.
In Chandigarh, Bajrang Dal activists protested against Mandira Bedi and demanded stringent punishment against her for denigrating the national flag.
The activists also burnt an effigy of Bedi at a busy chowk close to the Inter-State Bus Terminus.
In Jaipur, Gyan Prakash, the Director of Save India Foundation, filed the complaint at the Shipra Path police station against the duo, saying "in the sari worn by Mandira Bedi and designed by Puneet Nanda, the Tricolour was printed below the knee and was shown as a show piece."
"It was also not in proportion as prescribed in the Constitution," the complaint said.
The case was registered under the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act 1971, PTI quoted station in-charge Gyarsi Ram as saying. Notices would be issued to both Bedi and Nanda after taking legal opinions from experts, Ram said.
Under the Act, using the flag as a costume or uniform of any description or embroidering or printing it on cushion, handkerchief, napkin or any dress material are prohibited.
Comments
0 comment