As I was on my back home this morning from work and was about to cross the Gurgaon toll booth, something in front of the Ambience Mall caught my attention. I saw the Indian flag fluttering in front of the mall in all its glory but what really caught my attention was the fact that it was 4’o clock in the morning. Now as far as my knowledge went, hoisting Indian flag after sunset was a serious offense. According to flag Code of India, 2002, any member of public, private organization or educational institution may hoist the national flag on all days and occasions, ceremonial or otherwise, consistent with the dignity and honor of the National Flag. Where the flag is displayed in the open, it should, as far as possible, be flown from sunrise to sunset, irrespective of weather conditions. But there it was, right in front of eyes, an Indian flag still hoisted up at 4 AM.
Tricolor At Night
Quite honestly, this offended me a little. It could either have meant one of the two things, either the authorities at the mall have no respect for the flag or they have no respect for the law. I stood there for a minute and wondered if they just forgot to take the flag down at sunset or did they just not care? After clicking a few pictures, I started on my way back home wondering about it all the way and the moment I reached home, I switched on my computer and started to Google about the Indian flag code. What I found kind of really surprised me.
Now we all know that Naveen Jindal won a court battle in the 1990s for flying the Tricolor as a fundamental right for every citizen. What I did not know however was after winning this case, he again went to the court in June 2009 and sought permission to fly mammoth-sized national flag on monumental flagpoles during night. Jindal argued that in countries like Malaysia, Jordon, Abu Dhabi, North Korea, Brazil, Mexico and Turkmenistan, monumental flags are flown at night and it should be allowed in India as well. Agreeing to his argument, the ministry said that such flagpoles could be installed, provided there was adequate arrangement for proper illumination of flags at night with backup in case of power failure and the flags are replaced immediately as soon as they get damaged due to vagaries of nature. After this decision was passed, the Indian Flag Code, established in 1950, was then amended after the decision of the Union cabinet.
After learning this, I once again looked at the pictures I clicked. Flag they had in front of the mall was indeed a large one, was at quite a height and was well illuminated. No disrespect there, phew !!!!!
