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Kochi: In a blow to the Left government of Kerala, the High Court here said that waving black flags in front of the Chief Minister’s convoy is not an illegal act and does not amount to defamation. Justice B Kurien Thomas’s judgment assumes significance as several Youth Congress workers had faced police action for showing black flags to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during the state government’s public relations program ‘Nav Kerala Sadas’ last year.
Justice Thomas said, “Although the signals so expressed may be a way of defaming a person, yet showing or waving a black flag at a person cannot be defamatory nor is it an illegal act.” ‘
The court gave this decision while quashing the final report against three persons for waving black flags in front of Vijayan’s convoy passing through North Paravur near here in 2017. The court said that generally waving the black flag is a sign of protest and unless a law is made to ban it, such conduct does not fall within the scope of the offense of defamation. (Language)
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