Media outlets misreport Islamic flag as Pak flag hoisted atop Gorakhpur house

Zee Hindustan recently reported that a Pakistani flag hoisted on the rooftop of a house in the Chauri Chaura area of Gorakhpur sparked outrage in the locality.

Journalist Tushar Srivastava of Zee Hindustan amplified the claim on Twitter. (Archive link)

गोरखपुर के तालीम , बिस्मिलाह, आरिफ और आशिक खाते हिंदुस्तान का लेकिन गुणगान करते है पाकिस्तान का घर के छत पर लगा रखे थे पाकिस्तान का झंडा पुलिस ने चारो को लिया हिरासत में pic.twitter.com/HsBHgWDa1V

— Tushar Srivastava (@TusharSrilive) November 11, 2021

Punjab Kesari also ran the same story. (Archive link)

Navbharat Times and Lokmat Hindi were the other Hindi outlets that carried the story.

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A few users tweeted about the incident, claiming that a mob had surrounded a home in Gorakhpur’s Chauri Chaura area over suspicions of the Pakistan flag being hoisted there. A video is also being circulated with this claim, where a mob can be heard raising slogans like ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’.

गोरखपुर के चौरीचौरा क्षेत्र में पाकिस्तानी झंडा लगाने के शक में भीड़ ने एक घर को घेरा.
भीड़ ने पुलिस की मौजूदगी में घर के सामने खड़ी कार में तोड़ फोड़ की और उस घर के सामने जय श्रीराम के नारे लगाए. 1/1@zoo_bear @KashifKakvi @digvijaya_28 @LambaAlka @vinodkapri @ajitanjum pic.twitter.com/4CpL2tsxsG

— Shubhank Shukla (@Shubhank999) November 11, 2021

Pro-BJP propaganda outlets OpIndia also promoted the viral claim.

Not the flag of Pakistan

After a closer look at the flag in the video circulated by media outlets, Alt News discovered that the flag was not the Pakistani flag which has a white stripe on the left. This was clearly missing from the flag on the house.

Apart from this, the crescent moons in both flags are pointing in opposite directions.

Furthermore, one of the images in circulation features a man showing the flags to the police. These are actually Islamic flags and not the Pakistani national flag.

Gorakhpur police posted a tweet stating that it had registered a complaint against four people and necessary action will be taken after an investigation.

#gorakhpurpolice@Uppolice @AdgGkr @diggorakhpur @IPS_VipinTada pic.twitter.com/3jLnSKWmet

— Gorakhpur Police (@gorakhpurpolice) November 10, 2021

Alt News reached out to the City Officer of the Chauri Chaura area. He informed us that the police had seized the flag and that during the investigation, the police found prima facie that the flag was not the Pakistani flag but an Islamic flag. Further investigations are still underway in the matter.

We also spoke to a local journalist about this incident who said, “The video of a flag hoisted on the rooftop of a house in the Chauri Chaura area went viral on social media, prompting local leaders to gather outside the home. The mob that gathered began pelting stones and also vandalised the car parked outside. The police also arrived and tried to pacify the matter. They seized the flag and registered a case of sedition on the basis of a complaint by some of the people in the mob. One individual was also arrested in this case.”

The journalist shared a copy of the FIR with Alt News. It says that Kalyan Pandey, the national chief of the Brahmin Jan Kalyan Samiti, received information about a Pakistani flag allegedly hoisted at the home of Talim Mulla, a resident of Nirala Gali in the Chauri Chaura area. Following this, Brahmin Jan Kalyan Samiti workers reached the spot. They brought the matter to the attention of the authorities and filed a sedition case.

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To sum it up, local leaders and Hindu organisations created a ruckus over an Islamic flag hoisted atop a house in Gorakhpur’s Chauri Chaura area. The media promoted the claim that the flag was the Pakistani national flag without prior verification. The police investigation found that the flag was not Pakistan’s and a closer look at the viral video also confirms the same.