Bail pleas for the remaining six accused are listed for May 18
PRAYAGRAJ — The Allahabad High Court on Friday granted bail to eight of the 14 Muslim men arrested over a boat Iftar party on the Ganges that sparked outrage, arrests, and a political storm.
The March 15 gathering turned viral and then volatile. Videos showed a group of young men breaking their Ramadan fast on a decorated boat with fruit, soft drinks, and chicken biryani. The clips spread fast. So did the backlash.
Local BJP and Hindu right-wing groups called the feast an affront to the river’s sanctity. A complaint landed at Kotwali police station, filed by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha leader Rajat Jaiswal. Within hours on March 16, police had all 14 men in custody.
What the FIR Says
Police charged the group under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita: promoting enmity, hurting religious sentiments, public nuisance, and polluting water bodies. The Water Act was also invoked. The core allegation: eating non-vegetarian food on the “sacred” river and dumping leftovers into the water.
The ‘hijack’ claim
In court, Uttar Pradesh Police painted a dramatic picture. They told the high court that the group had “hijacked” the boat, threatened the boatman, and forced him mid-river to host the Iftar. Prosecutors said the event was staged for the camera, opening with shots of a mosque before cutting to the Ganga and the spread on deck. Separate clips of biryani being served were recorded too. The message, police argued, was meant to travel “not only in Varanasi but across the country.”
Defence lawyers pushed back hard. They called the charges inflated and political. The men, they said, were just breaking their fast during Ramadan. No serious offence, no reason for extended jail time.
Bail Granted
Justices Rajiv Lochan Shukla and Jitendra Kumar Sinha passed the bail orders in separate hearings. The eight released: Mohammad Azad Ali, Mohammad Tahseem, Nihal Afridi, Mohammad Tauseef, Mohammad Anas, Mohammad Sameer, Mohammad Ahmed Raza and Mohammad Faizan.
They had moved the high court after both the Chief Judicial Magistrate and a Varanasi sessions court denied them bail.
Bail pleas for the remaining six accused are listed for May 18. Most of the 14 are from Varanasi’s Madanpura area and are aged between 19 and 25. Families insist the youths were singled out once the videos blew up online.
What began as an Iftar on a boat is now a test case of river, religion, and the reach of a viral video.
