VARANASI: A court in Varanasi on Monday rejected the bail applications of 14 people who were arrested a week ago after they allegedly held an Iftar party and ate chicken biryani on a boat in the Ganga river.
The 14 were charged with defiling a place of worship, hurting religious sentiments and causing public nuisance and water pollution. Subsequently, the police had also added a charge regarding the alleged forcible seizure of the boat, according to Shashank Shekhar Tripathi, the counsel for complainant Rajat Jaiswal who is the BJP Yuva Morcha's city unit chief.
"Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Amit Kumar Yadav observed that the charges are grave and non-bailable; therefore, there are no sufficient grounds to grant bail at this juncture," Tripathi said.
The prosecution strongly opposed the bail application, arguing that the offence committed by the accused is of a serious nature and carries provisions for severe punishment.
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 on Thursday sent the 14 people to judicial custody.
According to Tripathi, the accused had "threatened a boatman and forcibly taken him along before holding 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 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 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 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.