Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan criticized the arrest of 14 Muslim men over the consumption of chicken biryani in Iftar while aboard a boat on the river Ganga during the month of Ramadan a few months ago.
While delivering the fourth Memorial Lecture of Justice GP Singh held at the National Law Institute University, Bhopal, he said that the men spent three months in jail for something that is not offensive.
“I am sure consuming chicken biryani is not an offense. It can’t be an offense…they were arrested for that very reason, and they had to remain in jail for three months,” he said.
“It will not be an exaggeration to say that public space for expressing divergent opinions is shrinking in India,” he said.
The statement comes in light of the arrest of 14 Muslim youth in March under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 298 and 299 for hurting religious feelings, promoting enmity, public nuisance, and violating the Water Pollution Control Act.
A case was registered against fourteen Muslim men in Varanasi after they were seen holding an iftar gathering on the river, eating non-veg, and dumping it in the river. On 15 March earlier this year, the video of the gathering went viral on the social media platform, triggering controversy.
The video demonstrates a group of Muslim men seated on a moving boat in the river, breaking their fast with chicken biryani being served on the plates. A complaint was filed by Rajat Jaiswal, city president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.
These fourteen persons were identified as Azad Ali, Aamir Kaiki, Danish Saifi, Mohammed Ahmad, Nehal Afridi, Mahfooz Alam, Mohammed Anas, Mohammed Awwal, Mohammed Tahseem, Mohammed Ahmad alias Raja, Mohammed Noor Ismail, Mohammed Tausif Ahmad, Mohd Faizan, and Mohammed Sameer.
Based on a complaint filed by Rajat Jaiswal, city president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, a case was registered against the youths.
The FIR was registered 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.
Later on, Section 308(5) (extortion under threat of death or grievous hurt) was added too, after the boat owners, Anil Sahani and Ranjan Sahani, alleged that the accused men took their boat forcibly.
Justice Bhuyan, meanwhile, highlighted that the people showing concerns over the environment are treated as criminals, and students have been sent to join for months for campus protests.
“People who come to voice their anguish over environmental degradation, which is a reality, are chased away as if they are criminals. Students protesting on campuses are arrested, and they do not get bail for 30-40 days,” the judge said.
Furthermore, Justice Bhuyan questioned whether courts, through restrictive bail conditions, were also discouraging dissent.
