For formally saluting national flags found abandoned among garbage at Kochi, a civil police officer was being widely appreciated by netizens and prominent citizens alike.
Amal T K, who works with the Hill Palace police station at Thripunithura in Kochi district, was saluted by retired major-turned-filmmaker A K Raveendran, popularly known as Major Ravi, for what the police officer did with the national flags. Major Ravi called on Amal at the Hill Palace police station and gave him a salute.
Amal was among a team of policemen that went to the spot, on Tuesday, after they got information about an abandoned pile of the national flags and those of the Indian Coast Guard among a heap of garbage. When Amal found the national flags, he gave the pile a formal salute, and started folding them one by one. An onlooker captured the incident on video on his phone and posted it on social media, which gained popularity almost immediately.
Amal told DH that he did not feel like insulting those national flags anymore and, hence, gave them due respect by saluting them before taking them from the spot.
Higher police officials, military officers, and many others personally appreciated Amal for his genuine respect for the Tricolour. Amal, who has been working with the state police for over 15 years, received calls from businesspersons and NRIs—many of them even offered him rewards as their token of appreciation.
Meanwhile, the state police registered a case about the abandoned flags and started an investigation. The Indian Coast Guard was also said to have opened an inquiry. Prima facie information was that an agency engaged to collect scrap might have discarded the worn-out national flags.