‘No law prohibits eating chicken over Ganga river’: Supreme Court judge flags delayed bail

Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan cited the arrest of 14 Muslim men for eating chicken biryani on a boat in the Ganga during Ramzan as an example of criminalizing normal activities.

Justice Bhuyan remarked there is 'no law prohibiting consumption of chicken over the Ganga river' to highlight the lack of legal basis for such arrests.

The men were jailed for 3 months despite the absence of a specific law, illustrating delayed justice and restrictive bail conditions.

Justice Bhuyan warned that public space for expressing divergent opinion is shrinking and that normal activities are being criminalized.

He questioned restrictive bail conditions that can have a chilling effect on the fundamental right to dissent.