Law on Draping National Flag Over Body of a Deceased

Police of Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh have booked the mother and brother of a farmer who had died during the farmers’ agitation in Delhi, under The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, after his body was allegedly draped in the national flag.

Use of flag in funerals

1. A senior advocate at the Allahabad High Court said that the flag can only be used during a funeral if it is accorded the status of a state funeral.
2. Apart from police and armed forces, state funerals are held when people who are holding or have held office of President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, Cabinet Minister, Chief Minister pass away.
3. The status of a state funeral can be accorded in case of death of people not belonging to the armed forces, police or the above-mentioned categories by the state government. Then too, the national flag can be used.
4. The latest to get a state funeral from fields outside police, armed forces and government dignitaries was Roddam Narasimha, who was an aerospace scientist and fluid dynamicist from Andhra Pradesh.

Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971

1. The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 prohibits the desecration of or insult to the country's national symbols, including the National Flag, the constitution, the National Anthem and map of India including contempt of Indian constitution.
2. This act is widely applied in all cases where a case of insult to National Honour, through disrespect to National Symbols, is reported, public or not, as well as intentional or otherwise.
3. Section 2 of the act specifies punishment for insults to the Indian National Flag and the Constitution of India.
4. The law specifies acts of insult to the Indian flag and constitution. Some acts of insult include burning, mutilation, defacing, disfiguring, or showing disrespect to the National Flag.
5. It also prohibits using Indian National Flag as a drapery in any form except in State funerals or armed forces or other para-military forces funerals.
6. It prescribes punishment of imprisonment for insults for up to 3 years or a fine or both.