Fourteen Muslims were arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Hindus after they organised an iftar party on a boat in the river Ganga and ate chicken biryani, the Deccan Herald reported.
They were arrested after a video showing them holding the party on the boat on Monday was widely shared on social media.
A police complaint was filed by Rajat Jaiswal, the chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing in the city, who alleged that the incident had hurt religious sentiments of the Hindus, the newspaper reported.
In his complaint, Jaiswal alleged that the persons had thrown meat leftovers into the Ganga river, which holds religious significance for Hindus, The Indian Express reported.
The persons were booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of a class, deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of a class by insulting its religious beliefs and promoting enmity between groups.
They were also booked under sections pertaining to public nuisance and using evidence known to be false, The Indian Express reported.
The police also invoked the Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act.
All the 14 Muslim men seen on boat Iftar in Varanasi have been arrested. The FIR was registered based on the complaint of Bhartiya Janata Yuva morcha office bearer who accused the arrested men of hurting the religious sentiments. https://t.co/1Z6KnUgu59 pic.twitter.com/HNk2ng9ohN
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) March 17, 2026
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