Vijay Sethupathi, the Tamil actor who starred in Master which released on Wednesday, issued an apology on social media on Sunday for “setting a bad example”, after a photo of him cutting a cake with a machete went viral.
The actor mentioned that the machete was a significant prop from the sets of his upcoming film with director Pon Ram and thus, was used to cut the cake.
— VijaySethupathi (@VijaySethuOffl) January 16, 2021
Vijay, who celebrated his 43rd birthday on January 16, wrote: “A photo, that was taken three days back in my office during my birthday celebrations, has become the topic of controversy. In the photo, I was cutting my birthday cake with a machete. Currently, I am shooting for a movie under Pon Ram sir’s direction. In that film’s, the machete has an important character. Therefore, since I was celebrating with the crew of that film, I used the same machete to cut the cake. People have said that this is a very wrong precedent. I would like to announce that I will be even more careful regarding such things from now on.”
Its a punishable offence @VijaySethuOffl pic.twitter.com/C5EVFK3zTs
— Manoj Prabakar S (@imanojprabakar) January 16, 2021
No case has been filed against the actor for using the machete.
In the past, the police have arrested various individuals for cutting a cake using swords. Most of the cases filed have been under Sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Arms Act under the Indian Penal Code, which prevent the wrongful possession of arms without a license, wrongful possession of arms if unnecessary under the circumstances prevailing in any area, or expedient in the public interest, and, the wrongful possession of arms to use, manufacture, sell, transfer, convert, repair, test, or prove without license for the same.
The most recent case, as reported by Pune Mirror, occurred in November 2020 when five youths were booked under the Arms Act from Bhosari in Maharashtra after photos of a birthday celebration using an exhibition of swords went viral on social media.
As per India Today, another incident from July 2020 reported the arrest of a 25-year-old man by the Mumbai Police. The man was seen cutting 25 cakes with a sword while 30 others were present with no regards to social distancing norms.
Influencer Team 07 Adnaan Shaikh celebrating his friend Haris Khan's birthday, in which Haris is cutting Cake with a Sword and Chopper more then 100 of young boys were present without Social Distancing in Bandra west during COVID-19 Pandemic time.@MumbaiPolice @MumbaiMirror pic.twitter.com/izTvSGLS14
— Dr Binu Varghese (@SabSeTezz1) July 19, 2020
