Varanasi: The Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday, June 23, arrested five people for allegedly conducting a chicken and alcohol party on the ghats of the Ganga river.
The action was initiated after a video of the party surfaced on social media showing eight men on a boat stationed at the Dashashwamedh Ghat cooking chicken and drinking beer.
“Guys, aap log dekh sakthe hai ki hum log party mana rahe hai. Deepak bhaiya, hamare halwaai, pyaz kaat rahe in. Babloo bhaiya chicken bana rahein hai (Guys, as you can see, we’re having a party. Deepak bhaiya, our cook, is chopping onions. Babloo bhaiya is preparing the chicken),” said a person making the video.
Speaking to Siasat.com, Dashashwamedh Police confirmed the incident but stressed that the video is old. “Five people – Anurag Saini, Rahul Saini, Ajay Saini, Deepak Kumar and Arun Kumar – have been arrested, and a search is on for the remaining three,” the officer said.
Some local reports stated that the boat belongs to a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor. However, the officer denied the allegations. He refused to provide any further details.
A case under sections 196(2) (promoting enmity or hatred between different groups) and 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhitha (BNS) has been registered.
In a similar incident on March 17, during Ramzan, 14 Muslim men broke their fast by allegedly consuming chicken biryani and throwing leftover pieces into the river. The videos went massively viral, leading to their instant arrest.
According to the complainant, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha district chief Rajat Jaiswal, the Muslim men had insulted Hindu religious sentiments.
They were booked under sections 196(1)(b) (promoting enmity), 270 (public nuisance), 279 (fouling water of public spring or reservoir), 298 (injuring or defiling place of worship), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 308 (extortion) and 223(b) of the BNS, along with Section 24 (prohibition on use of stream or well for disposal of polluting matter) of The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
When comparing the two very similar incidents, the action against the Muslim men was considerably swifter. They were booked under stringent sections, including pollution, unlike the present case.
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