A revision petition was filed in the district and sessions court in Indore on Saturday challenging a local court order that said not standing at attention during national anthem cannot be considered as an 'obstruction'.
A lower court, while dismissing a petition against Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi for being seated at the time of the playing of the national anthem, had ruled on Friday that not rising for the national anthem was not a crime.
The counsel for the Tiranga Abhiyan, a non-governmental organisation, said it would be a 'serious legal mistake' to consider a person sitting during the national anthem as not an obstruction.
Shailendra Dwivedi also said that in the Prevention of Insults to the National Honour Act of 1971, it had been stated that any obstruction during rendition of the national anthem was a 'disrespect' to the national anthem.
The Act has not described the 'reasons for obstructions and in that scenario the ruling of the lower court is a serious legal mistake', Dwivedi said in his petition.
If a person is sitting and reading when others are standing in an attention position during the national anthem, and if it is not considered an obstruction, then other activities, too, like lying down, sleeping and eating, will not be treated as obstruction, he said.
© 2024 Rediff.com -