New Delhi: Fourteen young men, all of them Muslim, were arrested in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, on Wednesday (March 18) after a video showing an iftar gathering on a boat in the River Ganga circulated widely on social media. The iftar party took place on Monday (March 15) evening, when the group of youngsters had reportedly pre-booked a boat and travelled from Assi Ghat to Namo Ghat, popular sites along the Ganga River in the city.During the journey, those observing the Ramzan fast offered prayers and later broke their fast with dates, fruit and juices. Videos from the gathering showed people eating as they stood around a table on the deck. Another video appeared to show people eating on a boat from a large vessel and drinking water, and some claimed non-vegetarian food was being consumed and the remains being discarded into the river.A complaint was filed at Kotwali police station by a local office bearer of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Rajat Jaiswal, who alleged that the act had hurt religious sentiments associated with the Ganga. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the MP represening Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency since 2014. The state is ruled by his party, the BJP, of which the complainant, Jaiswal, is a functionary. The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh is also a BJP leader, Yogi Adityanath.Police registered a case and formed teams to identify those allegedly involved. The fourteen persons were arrested within hours. Here is what the ACP, Kotwali, had to say:#WATCH | Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh | On Ganga boat Iftar party arrests, Kotwali ACP Vijay Pratap Singh says, “… Allegations were raised on some people on 16 March that they were consuming chicken Biryani in a boat in Panchganga Ghat in the name of Iftar party… We immediately… pic.twitter.com/RyCmMz74Ua— ANI (@ANI) March 17, 2026Officials said they were booked under provisions related to hurting religious sentiments and other relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Reports said further investigation was underway. According to a Bhaskar English online report, “Jaiswal said the Ganga is a major centre of faith for followers of Sanatan Dharma, with lakhs of devotees visiting daily to take achaman (a ritual sip of holy water). He termed the alleged act of consuming chicken biryani on the river and disposing of its remains in the Ganga as condemnable.”A video of the incident was submitted along with the complaint, which the police claimed it made the basis of the arrests Deccan Herald reported.Journalist Piyush Rai shared a clip of the young men on X after they were arrested:All the 14 Muslim men seen on boat Iftar in Varanasi have been arrested. The FIR was registered based on the complaint of Bhartiya Janata Yuva morcha office bearer who accused the arrested men of hurting the religious sentiments. https://t.co/1Z6KnUgu59 pic.twitter.com/HNk2ng9ohN— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) March 17, 2026What preceded the FIR?There were no reports of on-ground protests or disturbances at the ghats of Varanasi prior to the complaint filed by the BJYM worker. The issue appears to have escalated into a heated debate – and no more – only after the case was filed. Reactions on social media to the BJYM’s actions were mixed. Some criticised the gathering as inappropriate given the religious importance of the river, while others questioned the arrests, describing them as disproportionate and pointing to the routine pollution of the Ganga from actual sources.Several posts highlighted what they called selective enforcement based on the religious identity of the arrested men. Many contrasted the swift police action in this case with the lack of similar responses to other forms of river pollution. Congress leader Supriya Shrinate was among politicians who took issue with the police action in Varanasi.An FIR has been filed against 14 Muslim men who hosted an Iftar on a boat on the Ganges in Varanasi.What laws have they broken?What sin have they committed?Where are we headed?Sickpic.twitter.com/mS07f0FXMy— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) March 17, 2026What are the key pollutants in the Ganga?A research report by Meenakshi Chaudhary and Tony R. Walker, published in ScienceDirect in 2019, found that Ganga pollution is driven mainly by large-scale human systems, particularly untreated municipal sewage, and that clean-up efforts have largely failed because they did not address these underlying sources.Its data on the condition of the Ganga at Varanasi shows that the primary source of pollutants is untreated domestic sewage, accountign for 70 to 75% of the total pollution load. Multiple drains discharge wastewater directly into the river within Varanasi – a confluence of the Varuna and Assi rivers with the Ganga, giving the city its name.Industrial effluents contribute around 10 to 12% of the waste, while agricultural runoff adds a smaller share. Other effluents, such as solid waste, ritual offerings and biodegradable materials form a minor proportion in comparison.Water quality indicators for the River Ganga at Varanasi have reflected this pattern of pollution for many decades. Further, the levels of faecal coliform bacteria in the river exceeds safe limits for bathing by orders of magnitude. This is primarily a result of heavy sewage contamination. Biological oxygen demand, or BOD, which measures organic pollution, often remains above recommended levels in the river, while dissolved oxygen regularly falls below thresholds required to sustain aquatic life.The most prominent long-term monitoring effort for Ganga water at Varanasi has been led by the locally-rooted Sankat Mochan Foundation. It has focused on faecal coliform levels, in particular, since it is a primary indicator of sewage contamination. Its studies have consistently found bacterial counts far exceeding safe limits for bathing, primarily becase untreated sewage has been allowed to flow into the river through city drains.Since the present case against the youths relates to allegations about religious sentiment being hurt, it is worthwhile to mention that the Sankat Mochan Foundation was founded by Veer Bhadra Mishra, the head priest of the Varanasi-based Sankat Mochan Temple, and is now headed by his family, with Professor Vishwambhar Nath Mishra, the current head priest of the temple.One surprising finding of the foundation, revealed by Professor Vishwambhar Nath Mishra, was that a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) set up in the city under the Ganga Action Plan in the 1980s did not have the capability to treat fecal coliform – the primary pollutant entering the Ganga in Varanasi. At present, under the Rs 40,000-crore Namani Gange project of the Union government, the installed STP capacity is said to exceeds the sewage generated in Varanasi. However, not all the sewage generated is connected to the pipes and drains that bring the sewage to the treatment plants, making the on-paper treatment capacity vary from the needs of the city.In other words, sewage continues to enter the Ganga River, at Varanasi and elsewhere, and this is acknowledge in a December 2025 press release of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, which said the Ganga stretch at Varanasi met official bathing norms, but pollution issues persisted downstream of the city. Organic pollution remained a particular concern. The government release attributed the primary source of pollution of the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar stretches to untreated domestic and industrial wastewater.The data also suggests that despite expanded capacity under the Namami Gange programme, improvements in water quality around Varanasi have remained uneven.How this relates to the current arrestsWhen seen against this backdrop, the current case is surprising for the alacrity with which the police and administration have responded. The scale of the alleged actions of those who participated in the iftar on the boat does not match the man-hunt and arrests.There is no easily available information on similar action – arrests – of, say, small or large industrial polluters of the Ganga. However, some fines have reportedly been levied, and upstream industrial units (especially tanneries) have been forced to close in an ostensible bid to lower the industrial pollutants in the river at Varanasi and elsewhere.This strategy of industrial closures has not been welcomed or accepted by many scientists, and some say it is not clear to what extent smaller industrial waste treatment plants were installed, as promised, in tanning zones, to tackle the pollutant problem in the employment-intensive and export-oriented leather/tanning sector.There are instances, including from January 2026, of luxury cruise services emptying sewage into the Ganga River, getting fined – but no arrests.Arrests to control Ganga pollution?In 2019, the government proposed a National River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Bill, which included provisions for up to five years’ imprisonment and fines of up to Rs 50 crore for polluting or obstructing the river (obstructing the flow of the river invited heavier penalties). However, it was never enacted into law and remained in draft stage at the Ministry of Jal Shakti. Discussed before the Winter Session of Parliament in 2019, it was not introduced.Regulation of pollution in the Ganga River, therefore, continues under existing environment protection regulation such as the Environment Protection Act, 1986 and the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, along with orders passed by bodies such as the National Green Tribunal and state pollution boards in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal or Uttarakhand, where the river originates.River-specific penalties neither exist nor have been implemented in practice.In terms of penal/court action, reports indicate imprisonment and fines being imposed for violating the Wildlife Protection Act, specifically smuggling protected species, but no cases could be found that relate to anyone throwing food into the river. In Kanpur in 2025, youngsters were arrested for performing stunts on the Ganga barrage, as part of a crackdown on dangerous driving, but this was unrelated to pollution.In the meantime, Deccan Herald reports Wednesday (March 18, 2026) that saffron leaders in Varanasi have also “demanded action against the boatman, who allowed his boat to be used for the iftar party”.