22-year-old cuts birthday cake on road in Mumbai, lights firecrackers; held

Nagpada police have arrested a 22-year-old man for celebrating his birthday on a public road by lighting crackers and cutting a cake with his friends in Madanpura

Nagpada police have arrested a 22-year-old man for celebrating his birthday on a public road by lighting crackers and cutting a cake with his friends in Madanpura in south Mumbai. After a video of the celebration went viral, police registered a case against him for violating social distancing norms of the lockdown. The accused was arrested and released on bail.

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According to police, the arrested accused Hammad Ansari works as a social worker. “Ansari celebrated his birthday at midnight on June 6 at Mandanpura. At 12am his friends burst firecrackers and cut a cake. The celebration did not follow any social distancing norms as the friends are seen mixing around freely [in the video],” said an officer.

“After the cake was cut, Ansari’s friends went on to rub the cake on his face. He shared the video of the celebration on social media with the tagline ‘Baap Baap Hota hai’ which sent out a message that the lockdown could not deter him from celebrating his birthday,” added the officer.

Soon after the video went viral, Nagpada police swung into action and registered a case against Ansari under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. “We arrested him on June 6 and after completing the formal procedures he was released on bail. We also made him delete the video and pictures of the celebration from the social networking site,” said the officer.