UP Police clarified that the religious flag carried by youths in Baghpat was not the Pakistan flag
A video going viral on social media (here, here, and here) shows young men being apprehended by locals for allegedly waving the Pakistani flag and then handed over to the police in Aminagar Sarai, within the Singhawali police station area of Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. Let’s verify the claims made in this post.
Claim: Young men were caught by locals for waving the Pakistani flag and handed over to the Baghpat police in Uttar Pradesh.
Fact: The incident occurred on 16 September 2024, when Gauspur residents Arbaaz and Aamir were waving green flags on the Meerut-Baghpat Highway. Suspecting it to be a Pakistani flag, Hindu activists chased and beat them. Nearby shopkeepers intervened and handed them to the police. In a social media post on X, the Baghpat Police clarified that the accusation was false and that the green cloth was related to the Eid-e-Milad festival, not the Pakistani flag. Hence, the claim in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to a social media post on X by Baghpat Police who clarified that on 16 September 2024, men travelling from Gram Gauspura to Meerut were wrongly accused of displaying a Pakistani flag. The green cloth on their motorcycle was related to Eid-e-Milad.
Additionally, we found media reports of Amar Ujala. According to the report, on 16 September 2024, Gauspur residents Arbaaz and Aamir were waving green flags on the Meerut-Baghpat Highway when Hindu activists, suspecting a Pakistani flag, chased and beat them. Nearby shopkeepers intervened and handed them to the police. After investigation, the police found the flag was religious, and the youths were released.
To sum up, the UP police clarified that the religious flag carried by youths in Baghpat was falsely shared as the Pakistani flag.