Ganga river, which flows through many states in the country, holds a lot of religious and spiritual meaning for Hindu devotees. However, one viral video of a Ganga boat ride sparked a massive controversy on social media, with netizens enraged over the desecration of the holy river.
In a controversial viral video, several men were seen cooking chicken on skewers and smoking hookah while they were on a boat ride on the Ganga river, hurting the religious sentiments of Hindu devotees across the nation.
The incident was reportedly filmed when the men on the boat were close to Prayagraj's Daraganj. The men appeared to be cooking chicken on skewers. A probe was launched into the issue after the video went viral on social media.
Police have registered a case after a video clip surfaced on the internet purportedly showing six people cooking a non-vegetarian meal and smoking a hookah on a boat on the Ganga near the holy Sangam.
Two out of the six accused visible in the video have been identified, but they remain absconding. In the FIR lodged on Wednesday, the six people are accused of hurting religious sentiments and defiling a place of worship, police said.
Circle Officer Aastha Jaiswal said Daraganj is a pilgrimage area and people are expected not to do anything that could hurt the sentiments of the devotees. "Cooking meat on a boat on the Ganga river can hurt the religious sentiments of the people who come here," the CO said.
The FIR was registered against two named and four unknown people on the complaint of Bakshi outpost in-charge Diwakar Singh after the video surfaced on Tuesday.
Two of the men seen in the video have been identified as Ajaf and Hassan, against whom an FIR was registered under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race) and 295 (defiling place of worship) of the IPC.
The accused in the case remain absconding as of now, and the two identified men are residents of Bakshi Khurd in Daraganj. The police are making efforts to identify the remaining four of the accused.
(With PTI inputs)
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