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Petition seeking arrest for Virat Kohli and Tamannaah for Promoting Online Gambling

Moved by several youngsters getting hooked to online gambling and also one youth committing suicide, A.P.Suryaprakasam, a lawyer has filed a public interest litigation petition in the Madras High Court seeking to shut down all online gaming sites and prosecute the promoters and brand ambassadors of online gaming sites.

Cricketer Virat Kohli and actor Tamannaah have been put under the spotlight  for their role in abetting the youngsters to gamble online. The Chennai based advocate mentioned that youngsters are brainwashed by using stars like the cricketer and actor to encourage online gambling. The petitioner mentioned a case of a youngster who committed suicide due to the money he owed for online gambling. With the increase in the number of suicides in Tamil Nadu, youngsters have been taking aggressive steps to recover their losses. 

According to the petition, youngsters borrow money at high-interest rate and once they are unable to make profits at these online gambling sites they commit suicide. The petitioner went as far as comparing online gaming sites with the Blue Whale game which had claimed the lives of several youngsters who got addicted to it.

Suryaprakasam, the petitioner said “They are the major influencing factor. Gambling is evil and they are promoting it. As a matter of fact, the amended Consumer Protection Act has a provision that for false advertisements the brand ambassadors are responsible.”

As such, the following directions have been sought from the High Court, i.e.:

• To close all online gambling sites;
• To arrest and prosecute persons running online gambling websites and celebrities endorsing the same for promoting gambling, for getting youngsters hooked on to such illegal gambling and for abetting suicide.

Recently, Justice B Pugalendi of the Madras High Court had asked the State to consider bringing in a law to regulate online gaming, while observing that while real-world gambling has been prohibited, there is no corresponding law for online gambling.

While Virat Kohli is all set to participate in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Over the last few weeks, after staying at home for a period of three months, Indian cricketers started practicing which hinted at cricket’s resumption for the Indian cricketers has come across this bizarre incident. 

Due to the widespread of novel coronavirus and the increase in the number of cases in the country since March, cricket matches have been postponed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The upcoming season will be played in the UAE and the details regarding the tournament will be decided in the IPL Governing Council meeting. As per the initial confirmation, while IPL 2020 will kick off on September 19, it will end on either November 8 or 10. 

The case has been posted for a hearing on Tuesday. Stay tuned for more updates on gambling stories in India, keep reading GutshotMagazine.com

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