The display of the National Flag in a manner that defaces or disfigures it, as well as its use in advertisements, is prohibited by the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and the Flag Code of India.

1. - This letter petition has been filed by the petitioner, who seems to be a public spirited person and is interested to see that the dignity if the National Flag is maintained. The petitioner is present in person. It is submitted by him that the Department of Communications, Union of India, New Delhi issued an advertisement, which was published in Rajasthan Patrika dated January 26, 1991 as also in Times of India of the same date and various other national papers. In this advertisement, Ashok Chakra has been displayed in the dial of the telephone. According to the petitioner, this clearly violates the provisions of Section 2 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 (for brevity, 'the Act, 1971') and also Flag Code of India, issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs.

2. Reply has been filed on behalf of the Union of India. It is submitted by Mr. U.D. Sharma, learned counsel for the respondent-Union of India, that this advertisement has been published with a view to further the cause of National Integration and Unity of India. It is further submitted that the National Flag being a symbol of National Unity, has been adopted in this advertisement to show achievement towards the National Unity. It is also submitted that the Union of India always shows great respect to the National Flag and the said advertisement does not disclose even a remote tendency to show any disrespect to the National Flag.

3. Section 2 of the Act, 1971 is regarding Insult to Indian National Flag which reads as under :

"2. Whoever in any public place or in any other place within public view bums, mutilates, defaces, defiles, disfigures, destroys, tramples upon or otherwise brings into contempt (whether by words, either spoken or written, or by acts) the Indian National Flag or the Constitution of India or any part thereof, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both."
The Second Explanation is as under:

"The expression "Indian National Flag" includes any picture, painting, drawing or photograph, or other visible representation of the Indian National Flag, or of any part of parts thereof made of any substance or represented on any substance."
A bare reading of the above provision shows that defacing and disfiguring also amounts to insult to the National Flag. There is no doubt that display of Ashok Chakra in a dial of telephone amounts to defacing/disfiguring. the National Flag. The second Explanation extracted above also shows that the expression "Indian National Flag" includes any picture or photograph or other visible representation of the same. The advertisement is, thus, covered by the word "photograph" as used in the second Explanation. Apart from that, it is laid down under Section 5 of the Flag Code in Para 5.8 that the "Flag shall not be used in any form of advertisement nor shall an advertising sign be fastened to the pole from which the Flag is flown." If there was any doubt, regarding improper use of the National Flag, the same is completely clear from the para mentioned above. Ashok Chakra is a part of the National Flag and showing it in the dial of telephone is clearly prohibited. Para 5.7 of the Flag Code lays down that "Lettering of any kind shall not be put upon the Flag."

4. It was rightly pointed out by the petitioner that taking clue from the advertisement under consideration, a private person, who is handling telephonic public call booth established in Jaipur, by the Ministry of Communications has published an advertisement in Rajasthan Patrika, which was shown for perusal of this Court, in which, Ashok Chakra has been displayed in the telephone dial and the same words have also been printed in the dial. It is therefore, evident that the Union of India has misused the National Flag and violated the provisions of Section 2 and para 5.8 of Section 5 of the Flag Code of India, even though it may not be said that this has been done deliberatel