A Varanasi court on Wednesday denied bail to fourteen Muslim men, who were booked for hosting an Iftar (fast-breaking evening meal eaten by Muslims during the Ramadan month) on a boat on Ganga.
Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar passed the order denying bail to Azad Ali, Aamir Kaiki, Danish Saifi, Mohd. Ahmad, Nehal Afridi, Mahfooz Alam, Mohd. Anas, Mohd. Awwal, Mohd. Tahseem, Mohd. Ahmad alias Raja, Mohd. Noor Ismail, Mohd. Tausif Ahmad, Mohd. Faizan, and Mohd. Sameer.
The Court said uploading of the video of the Iftar on social media prima facie indicates that the incident was carried out with the intention of affecting social harmony.
"Inciting religious sentiments and circulating such content on social media further aggravates the seriousness of the offence, especially considering that Eid and other festivals were to follow after Iftar," the judge said, while denying bail to the accused.
The accused had been denied bail by a magistrate last month, observing that the offences allegedly committed by them were serious in nature.
The controversy arose after videos of the men breaking their fast in a boat on the river went viral on social media.
A first information report (FIR) was registered based on a complaint filed by Rajat Jaiswal, Varanasi city unit president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), accusing the men of hurting religious sentiments. The FIR stated that the men consumed chicken biryani and discarded its remains in the river.
The men were initially booked under sections 298 (defiling a place of worship), 299 (malicious act with intent to outrage religious feelings), 196(1)(B) (promoting enmity), 270 (public nuisance), 279 (fouling water of a public spring or water reservoir), and 223(B) (disobedience of an order duly promulgated by a public servant) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with section 24 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
The police later added charged more serious charges, including under Section 308(5) BNS (extortion under threat of death or grievous hurt).
This charge was added after the owners of the boat alleged that the accused men took the boat from them forcibly.
They were also charged under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act which penalises publishing or transmitting material in electronic form which is lascivious, appeals to prurient interests or depraves/corrupts viewers.