Does sewage in Ganga not hurt you? Owaisi slams arrest of 14 Muslims for boat Iftar
India Today
Fourteen people were arrested after a video purportedly showed a group of people holding an Iftar gathering on a boat in the Ganga and consuming chicken biryani. Asaduddin Owaisi questioned the arrest of 14 Muslims over the incident.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday criticised the arrest of 14 Muslim youths in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by opening their roza on a boat in the Ganga, questioning the basis of the police action and calling it discriminatory.
Referring to the incident, Owaisi questioned whose religious sentiments were hurt by someone having food on a boat.
“In Varanasi, 14 Muslim youth opened their roza on a boat. A case was immediately registered against them. How are someone's religious sentiments being hurt if someone had food on a boat in river Ganga? Whose religious sentiments are being hurt? Does the sewage dumped in the river Ganga not hurt you?” Owaisi asked while speaking to news agency ANI.
He further alleged that the arrests were biased, saying the youths “are in jail” and their “only crime is that they are Muslims”. Drawing a comparison, Owaisi also questioned why liquor shops remained open during the month of Ramzan, arguing that such practices could hurt Muslim sentiments as well.
The controversy stems from an incident earlier this week in Varanasi, where a video purportedly showed a group of people holding an Iftar gathering on a boat in the Ganga and consuming chicken biryani. The clip went viral on social media, prompting police action.
According to officials, a case was registered at Kotwali police station following a complaint by BJP Yuva Morcha’s city unit chief Rajat Jaiswal, who alleged that eating non-vegetarian food on the river and allegedly discarding leftovers into the Ganga hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus.
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