As per a circular issued on May 13, the police in Surat, Gujarat have temporarily banned birthday celebrations in public. City police commissioner issued the prohibitory orders after reports of people’s birthday celebrations being thrashed for fun came to light.
The city’s residents had reportedly alleged on social media that school and college students were vandalising public property and disturbing people in the name of celebrating birthdays.
Police Commissioner Satish Sharma told TOI, “We received information about incidents in which individuals suffered injuries in a birthday celebration…We have been notified that in the name of celebration, they forcibly put cellotape, chemicals or foam on each other’s bodies or on other people and even beat people up.”
Here’s how people reacted to the news on Reddit:
However, being arrested for smearing cake isn’t the only law which has evoked a public response.
PUBG Arrests
In March, the Rajkot Police arrested at least 10 people for playing PUBG, a multiplayer mobile game, which was banned in several districts of Gujarat a few days earlier. Though the city police commissioner categorised the crime as a non-bailable offence, Rajkot police later requested Google to remove the battle royale game from the Store and prevent its download in the jurisdiction of Rajkot city.
No namaz in parks
In December 2018, the Uttar Pradesh police asked companies and offices in Noida to ensure that their employees don’t offer namaz in public spaces. The notice issued by Noida Sector 58 police station warned that companies would be held responsible if Muslim employees were found offering namaz in parks.
Cases against the deceased
In September 2018, a motorcyclist died in Ahmedabad after two cows suddenly came in the way of his vehicle. The city’s traffic cops reportedly made the deceased’s father file an FIR against his own son under Section 279 of the Indian Penal Code, which attributes to ‘rash driving’.
Good Samaritan pays fines
In June 2018, an office-goer was issued a challan of Rs 2,000 by Mumbai Traffic Police for giving a lift to an elderly couple in his car heading in the same direction. When asked for the reason, the police officer told him about Section 66/192 of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 which prohibits drivers from giving lift to strangers in a private vehicle.
Mankad Law
‘Mankading’ came into the spotlight after Kings XI Punjab captain Ravichandran Ashwin run out Rajasthan Royals batsman Jos Buttler in an IPL 2019 match. Ashwin whipped off the bails as Buttler stepped out of the crease instead of completing his delivery to the batsman on strike. Rajasthan Royals later lost the match by 14 runs.
