Police arrest 14 after viral Iftar boat video in Varanasi
Fourteen people were arrested in Varanasi after a viral video showed them eating chicken biryani during an Iftar party on a boat in the Ganga. A complaint by BJP Yuva Morcha’s Rajat Jaiswal led to an FIR under multiple sections
Varanasi: Fourteen people have been arrested on charges of defiling a place of worship and hurting religious feelings after a video purportedly showing them eating chicken biryani during an Iftar party hosted on a boat in the Ganga river here was widely shared on social media, officials said on Tuesday.
The action was taken on a written complaint filed on Monday by BJP Yuva Morcha’s city unit chief Rajat Jaiswal. The case was registered at Kotwali police station.
Jaiswal alleged that an Iftar party was organised on a boat in the Ganga, during which chicken biryani was consumed.
“The Ganga holds deep faith for followers of Sanatan Dharma. Thousands of devotees visit Kashi every day to perform rituals and offer prayers using Ganga water. In such a situation, eating biryani on a boat in the middle of the river and throwing leftovers into the water is inappropriate. This act appears to have been done with the intention of hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus,” he said.
Additional Commissioner of Police Vijay Pratap Singh said that a video went viral on Monday, purportedly showing a group of people holding an Iftar party on a boat on the Ganga and consuming biryani.
The FIR was lodged 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 the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.