THIRUVANTHAPURAM: Indian police today said they had re-captured a man on the run for 19 years after being convicted of insulting the national flag by wrapping meat in it.

Ismail Mohammed, 39, escaped after being sentenced to three months in prison in 1990 in the southern state of Kerala, senior police officer Tomin Thachankary said. Mohammed had confessed to using the flag to wrap up meat at his butcher’s shop, in breach of India’s strict rules on treating the national flag with “dignity, loyalty and respect.” He said he was not aware of official regulations that decree exactly when and how the flag can be used — including a ban on its touching the ground or water, or being used as drapery or a table cloth. “He escaped from jail and was declared absconder. We traced him on Saturday and arrested him,” Thachankary told AFP.