No law bars having chicken on Ganga: Suprme Court judge on Varanasi Iftar row

Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan on Saturday delivered a sharp critique of the judiciary's handling of cases involving dissent, questioning arrests over harmless acts such as eating chicken biryani on the Ganga and judicial resistance to protests over international issues like Gaza.Addressing an event at the National Law Institute University (NLIU) in Bhopal, Justice Bhuyan said courts must guard constitutional freedoms and warned that public space for dissent in India was shrinking.Using the recent arrest of 14 Muslim men who were jailed for nearly three months after consuming chicken biryani while breaking their Ramzan fast on a boat in the Ganga, Justice Bhuyan questioned the basis of criminal action."I am sure consuming chicken biryani is not an offence. There is no law prohibiting consumption of chicken over the Ganga river; they were arrested for that very reason and they had to remain in jail for three months. Can people be arrested and denied bail for 3 months for such an activity, I ask myself! Citizens are watching, people are watching," he said.Justice Bhuyan said the episode illustrated a broader pattern in which citizens were increasingly being subjected to criminal proceedings for exercising fundamental freedoms."It will not be an exaggeration to say that public space for expressing divergent opinion is shrinking in India. Right to express one's views and right to demonstrate peacefully are fundamental freedoms of citizens. Debate and dissent are the essence of democracy. Unfortunately, even formal activities are criminalised," legal news outlet Bar and Bench quoted Justice Buyan as saying.The Supreme Court judge also questioned judicial attitudes towards protests over global humanitarian issues, recalling a July 2025 Bombay High Court order rejecting a plea by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to hold a demonstration at Mumbai's Azad Maidan against the alleged genocide in Gaza."I found it very amusing that when in Bombay, Shivaji Park, when a group of people wanted to demonstrate in solidarity with the people of Gaza, the permission was not granted by the government. So, they moved a writ in the Bombay High Court; the learned judge said 'don't you have any issues in India, why do you have to go that far to agitate?," he said.The High Court had observed that people should focus on issues within India and remarked that protesting over Gaza was not "patriotism". Referring to those observations, Justice Bhuyan said he found it "very amusing" that a judge had questioned why citizens wanted to protest over events outside the country.Justice Bhuyan said that although courts often granted bail in such cases, the relief frequently came too late and was accompanied by stringent conditions that could discourage legitimate dissent.The Supreme Court judge also stressed that the judiciary was not above criticism and urged lawyers and students to critically examine court judgments.Referring to recent Supreme Court decisions, including the ruling on Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) reservation, he said unquestioning praise would not strengthen the institution. Calling for greater introspection within the judiciary, Justice Bhuyan said public confidence, not self-congratulation, was the true measure of the Supreme Court's standing.- EndsPublished On: Jul 26, 2026 13:52 IST