Varanasi (UP) | Fourteen people have been arrested on charges of defiling a place of worship and hurting religious feelings after a video purportedly showing them participating in an Iftar meal, eating biryani on a boat, on the Ganga river here, officials said on Tuesday.

The action was taken on a written complaint filed on Monday by the BJP Yuva Morcha's city unit chief Rajat Jaiswal.

Jaiswal alleged that an Iftar party was organised on a boat on the Ganga, during which biryani was consumed.

"The Ganga holds deep and unshakeable faith for followers of Sanatan Dharma. Thousands of devotees from across the country and the world visit Kashi every day to perform rituals and offer prayers using Ganga water.

"In such a situation, eating biryani on a boat in the middle of the river and throwing its leftovers into the water is completely inappropriate. This act appears to have been done with the intention of hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus," he said.

The FIR was lodged under BNS sections 298 (injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult th religion of any class), 299 (deliberate and malacious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 196(1) B (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place etc), 270 (public nuisance), 279 (fouling water of public spring or reservoir) and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.

Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Vijay Pratap Singh on Tuesday said that a video went viral on Monday, purportedly showing a group of people holding an Iftar party on a boat on the Ganga and consuming biryani during the gathering.