The Uttar Pradesh Police arrested 14 people on Tuesday, March 17, for allegedly hosting an iftar at the Ganga ghat in Varanasi.
The arrests followed the release of an Instagram reel showing a group of men wearing skull caps, sitting on a floating boat and eating what appears to be chicken biryani from a large cooking pot.
Speaking to Siasat.com, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Kotwali, Vijay Pratap Singh, said that of the arrested, 13 are Muslims and one is a Hindu who owns the boat. “They are all around 24-26 years of age. They wanted to increase followers and hence posted the video,” the officer said.
A case under sections 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and 298 (injuring or defiling a place of worship with the intent to insult a religion) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhitha (BNS) was registered.
Varanasi, the temple city of India, and its ghats leading to the Ganges are one of the revered destinations for thousands of Hindus and others across the globe. The 80 to 90 ghats, running parallel to the river, are famous for religious rituals, bathing, prayers and cremation ceremonies.
This post was last modified on March 17, 2026 6:02 pm