Two men arrested for pasting Pakistan flag in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas

The West Bengal Police has arrested two members of a Hindutva group named Sanatani Ekta Manch after they allegedly pasted the flag of Pakistan on the wall of a washroom beside Akaipur railway station.

The two men were arrested on charges of attempting to instigate communal violence in the Gopalnagar area of the North 24 Parganas district.

“Yesterday night, a Pakistani National flag was found to be pasted on the walls of a washroom beside Akaipur railway station under Gopalnagar PS [police station],” the police wrote in a social media post.

It added: “Investigation revealed that this was wilfully done by 1. Chandan Malakar (30) and 2. Progyajit Mondal (45), both local residents.”

The police said that Malakar and Mondal confessed to the act. The two men had also planned to write “Hindustan murdabad and Pakistan zindabad”, or death to India and long-live Pakistan, on the wall to “create communal disturbance”, it added.

“We shall spare no efforts to bring to book those who are hatching such conspiracies to trigger communal unrest,” the police stated.

This comes against the backdrop of incidents of violence and intimidation against Muslims being reported from several states in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.

Twenty-six persons were killed and 17 were injured in the attack near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir...

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