14 arrested in Varanasi for eating chicken biryani on boat in Ganga sent to judicial custody

Varanasi (UP): A Varanasi court has sent 14 people, who had allegedly hosted an Iftar party and eaten chicken biryani on a boat in Ganga river, to judicial custody, an advocate in the case said on Friday.

Additional Civil Judge (Sr.Div.)/ACJM Amit Kumar Yadav on Thursday sent all the accused to the 14-day judicial custody after rejecting the bail applications of the accused.

According to advocate Shashank Shekhar Tripathi, representing complainant Rajat Jaiswal, the accused had threatened a boatman and forcibly taken him along before holding the party on his boat in the river.

The 14 individuals were booked after a video of the incident surfaced online on Monday, and a written complaint was filed on the same day by Jaiswal, BJP Yuva Morcha's city unit chief.

The police also submitted a report to the court, citing the boatman's statement and eyewitness accounts. Consequently, a plea was filed to add several additional charges against the accused, including kidnapping.

On Jaiswal's complaint, the accused were booked and arrested on charges of defiling a place of worship and hurting religious feelings.

"The Ganga holds deep and unshakeable faith for the followers of Sanatan Dharma. Thousands of devotees from across the country and the world visit Kashi every day to perform rituals and offer prayers using Ganga water," Jaisawal said.

"In such a situation, eating biryani on a boat in the middle of the river and throwing its leftovers into the water is completely inappropriate. This act appears to have been done with the intention of hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus," he added.

The case has been registered under BNS sections 298 (injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 196(1) B (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place etc), 270 (public nuisance), 279 (fouling water of public spring or reservoir) and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.