Varanasi (UP), March 23 A court in Varanasi on Monday rejected the bail applications of 14 people who were arrested a week ago after they allegedly hosted an Iftar party and ate chicken biryani on a boat in the Ganga river.
The 14 were charged with defiling a place of worship, causing offense to religious sentiments, and creating public nuisance and water pollution. Subsequently, the police also added a charge regarding the alleged forceful seizure of the boat, according to Shashank Shekhar Tripathi, the counsel for complainant Rajat Jaiswal, who is the chief of the BJP Yuva Morcha's city unit.
"Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Amit Kumar Yadav observed that the charges are serious and non-bailable; therefore, there are no sufficient grounds to grant bail at this time," Tripathi said.
The prosecution strongly opposed the bail application, arguing that the offense committed by the accused is of a serious nature and carries severe penalties.
They also contended that granting bail to the accused could potentially interfere with the judicial process, Tripathi said.
The 14 individuals were booked after a video of the incident surfaced online last Monday, and a written complaint was filed on the same day by Jaiswal.
The court had sent the 14 people to judicial custody on Thursday.
According to Tripathi, the accused had "threatened a boatman and forcibly took him along before hosting the party on his boat in the river".
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.
"The Ganga holds deep and unwavering faith for 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," Jaiswal had earlier 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 alleged.
The case has been registered under 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 a public spring or reservoir) and the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
