Noida, March 28 – There was high drama at the office of a mobile phone company, Oppo, in Noida’s Sector 63 after a Chinese national who works in the company allegedly tore an Indian flag and threw it in a dustbin.
The Phase-3 police registered a case against the Chinese national, who works as a production manager in the company, on a complaint filed by three employees. The case is being investigated, the Hindustan Times reported.
Senior superintendent of police, Gautam Budh Nagar, Dharmendra Singh said, “A case of disrespecting the national flag has been filed on the basis of a complaint filed by the company employees. We have not arrested anyone in this connection and investigations are in progress. Action has to be taken after a thorough probe and we are in touch with company employees.”
Hundreds of people, including employees of Oppo and members of Vishva Hindu Parishad protested outside the office. The sector remained inaccessible for four hours due to a large crowd.
The situation turned aggressive when protesters started demanding the arrest of the Chinese national. They also raised issues related to the labour laws being violated by the company and sought immediate action.
More than 200 police personnel were deployed at the spot to control the crowd. As news of the incident spread, residents of neighbouring colonies climbed their rooftops and waved the Indian flag in a show of support for the protesters.
“Every corner of the office is under camera surveillance and we have told the police to scan the footage to establish the facts. We cannot tolerate disrespect towards our national flag,” Vineet Arya, a protester, said.
The company shut shop for the morning and told employees to resume work on Wednesday evening. The police said that the workers assemble mobile phones on the premises. Around 4,000 employees work in two shifts — 8am to 7pm and 8pm to 7am.
The station house officer of Phase-3 police station, Umed Singh Yadav, said that the incident had allegedly taken place on Monday evening after the first shift. He said that the employees accused the Chinese national of taking down an Indian flag that was pasted on a wall and dumping it in a dustbin.
“We have registered a case and the company has extended its support for the investigation. We have sought the camera footage of the office so that we can check the claim of the employees,” Singh said.
Protesting employees said that they took up the matter with their bosses, who are Indian nationals, but they did not take any action, forcing them to protest in the morning.
The officials of the company could not yet be reached.
(The pic featured above shows the employees of Oppo waving the Indian flags to mark their protest. Courtesy Hindustan Times)
