E-Paper
High court seeks Centre, Delhi Police response on plea seeking ban on gambling sites
The PIL said that despite various provisions under law, a large number of websites can be accessed in all the states through devices and a person is free to gamble or bet
The Delhi high court on Monday sought the response of the Centre and the Delhi Police on a plea seeking directions to ban/ prohibit gambling, betting, wagering and gaming websites.
A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and justice Prateek Jalan issued notice to the ministry of finance and ministry of electronics and information technology on the petition by chartered accountant Avinash Mehrotra who has contended that gambling is illegal according to the laws of the country and most state legislations have expressly forbidden the same.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL), filed through advocate Awantika Manohar, said that despite various provisions under law, a large number of websites can be accessed in all the states through devices and a person is free to gamble with cards or bet on the outcome of sport results etc.
The petitioner, also represented by advocates Siddharth Iyer and Prashant Kumar, said that “online gambling is a far worse evil than regular gambling” as the ease of access makes it easy for anyone to gamble their life savings away.
“Additionally, it is submitted that the online gambling system in India today, in its unregulated state, is potentially a great place for carrying out hawala operations, laundering money, etc. In fact, it is submitted that Foreign Exchange laws, as well as Income Tax laws, are also likely being violated today by the online gambling websites,” the plea said.
This petition has sought quashing of an order of October 21 issued by the Centre where it had stated that it does not have the competence to block gambling and betting websites in India.
It submitted that the power to issue directions with respect to the internet is vested with the Centre under the Internet Technology Act and even though most state governments have held that betting and gambling activities are illegal, it still continues for the lack of appropriate directions.
The matter would be now heard on January 29, 2021.
