The Allahabad High Court granted bail to six other accused who were in jail for sailing a boat on the banks of the holy Ganges and eating biryani and throwing its bones in the river. A bench of Justice Rajeev Lochan Shukla passed the order. Earlier, on May 15, the same bench granted bail to five accused and a bench headed by Justice Jitendra Kumar Sinha granted bail to three accused. The court noted that the accused had apologized for their actions. Accepting the bail application of the remaining six accused, the court said that eight accused have been granted bail earlier in the same case, so all the present applicants are eligible for bail. Earlier, the Varanasi lower court rejected the bail plea of all the accused, after which they approached the high court.
Hearing the case, a bench of Justice Rajiv Lochan Shukla said, Ganga river is a symbol of faith not only of Hindus but of the entire country. The court noted that in the affidavits filed by the accused, they have expressed remorse for their actions and their families have also expressed grief over the outrage caused to the society. Additional Prosecution Advocate Anup Trivedi suspected the case of a serious conspiracy but the court said the case could proceed without arresting the accused. The youths, who have been in jail since March 17, have promised not to do such acts in the future. The court granted them bail considering the fact that they have no criminal background and have already served jail time.
The entire incident took place on March 17, when Rajat Jaiswal, the Varanasi metropolitan president of the ruling BJP Yuva Morcha, filed a complaint with the police accusing him of hurting religious sentiments. The complainant said that followers of Sanatan Dharma will not tolerate Muslim youth eating flesh in the holy river Ganga. He strongly opposed the move and claimed that the youth were harboring a certain religious extremist ideology. The police arrested them under various sections of the Indian Justice Code for spreading religious hatred, desecration of holy places, public nuisance and the Prevention of Water Pollution Act.
Rajat Jaiswal, who filed the case, told reporters after all the accused were granted bail by the High Court that the court’s order is welcome. This will educate the youth and send a good message to the society. He also threatened that stricter measures will be taken in future if their behavior does not change. There is a special aspect to the incident. After verifying the authenticity of the video that went viral on social media, Alt News said that their investigation found no clear evidence of bones being dumped in the river.
