Ahead of Eid ul-Fitr celebrations, a local Varanasi court has sent 14 Muslim men to judicial custody for allegedly defiling a holy place, offending people’s religious sentiments, and also for causing public nuisance under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act.
Here’s what happened:
According to The Indian Express, Varanasi police arrested 14 men on Tuesday following a complaint from Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha’s district president, Rajat Jaiswal. The men are facing accusations of eating chicken biryani while on a boat during an Iftar gathering on the Ganga River and then tossing the leftover food into the water. According to the report, the men have been captured on video, which the police has already seen.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Vijay Pratap Singh had said that a viral video purportedly caught the group in holding a Iftar gathering on the boat. Police have said that the investigation is continuing and more people may be questioned.
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‘They were carrying utensils with them,’ say boat owners
Sahani, who owns the motorboat where the iftar gathering took place on March 15, told The Indian Express that a man named Yadav, aged 40, came to him around 5 pm that Sunday to rent the boat for a ride. Sahani, originally from the Shivalay area of Varanasi, has two motorboats and two manually operated boats, all stationed at Rana Mahal Ghat.
Yadav, who lives near Chausathi Ghat and also works in the boat ride business, was known to Sahani and had taken his boats on rent earlier too.
Sahani’s daughter Naina, 26, said she was present when the deal was discussed. At first, they fixed the rate at Rs 100 per person, but later agreed on a total of Rs 1,800 for the entire boat. She recalled that around 20 people boarded the boat before it left.
According to her, the group carried some utensils, but that did not raise any concern since it is common and they usually do not check what passengers bring.
Sahani said there was already a large crowd at the ghat that evening because a bhandara was being held, which created a lot of noise and activity in the area.
Naina further explained that during the ride, the boat started running low on diesel. Yadav then called them asking for more fuel. Her brother Anil took another boat to deliver the diesel, refilled the tank, and returned. She said that shortly after this, Yadav came back with the passengers.
Police have stated that some members of Sahani’s family may have been on the boat and could be questioned. However, Sahani clarified that only Anil had briefly boarded the boat to deliver fuel and did not notice anything unusual.
He added that Yadav returned the keys about 45 minutes after taking the passengers out. The police are currently trying to locate Yadav for questioning.
Sahani said they only found out about the videos of the iftar gathering and the controversy around it two days later, along with news of the arrest of 14 people.
He also mentioned that on Wednesday, two policemen came to his house and asked him to visit Kotwali Police Station. After a short round of questioning, officials told them they were not at fault and allowed them to leave.
Shambhu Nishad, organising secretary of the Maa Ganga Nishad Raj Sewa Niyas, a group representing boat owners in Varanasi, said Sahani had done nothing wrong as he had simply rented out his boat and was not present during the incident.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Vijay Pratap Singh said that the police are still searching for two to three more people in connection with the case. |
