Iftar on Ganga: Varanasi court rejects bail petition of 14 accused

The defence counsel further said they would file a fresh bail application in the Varanasi sessions court.

During the bail hearing, the prosecution also referred to another case lodged by the complainant in the case, Rajat Jaiswal, against unidentified persons, alleging he was receiving death threats, Yadav added.

Jaiswal, a Varanasi resident, is the district president of the BJP’s youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM).

According to police, Jaiswal filed the second complaint last week, claiming he has been receiving “abusive messages” and “death threats” from unknown persons on social media.

Jaiswal said the incident has left him and his family “deeply shaken”, amid “growing fears for their safety in a hostile environment”.

He also expressed apprehension about the possibility of mob violence, citing the “demographic composition of his neighbourhood”. He feared that those issuing the threats may act on them, thus putting both him and his family at risk, he added.

The second case was filed at the Sigra police station on charges of “intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace and criminal intimidation”.

Sigra Station House Officer (SHO) Sanjay Kumar Mishra said they are collecting details of the IDs from which threats were sent to the complainant.

No one has been arrested in the case so far, he added.

On March 17, Varanasi police sprang into action after a video of the incident started circulating on social media. Officials said the footage was purportedly uploaded by the accused themselves.

Following a complaint by Jaiswal, a case was registered at the Kotwali police station. Using the video as “crucial evidence”, the investigators identified the youths and subsequently arrested them.

The case was filed under sections 298 (injuring or defiling place of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 196 (promoting enmity between different groups), 270 (public nuisance) and 223 (using evidence known to be false) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act.

Police then invoked charges of “breach of peace” before arresting the accused.

The charges of extortion were added two days later following a statement by boat operator Anil Sahani and his relative Ranjan Sahani, purportedly claiming that the youths had forcibly taken away the motorboat by issuing threats.