New Delhi: A Delhi court has suggested
betting in cricket and other sports should be legalised in
the country as the police have failed to check the menace and
huge unaccounted money generated through the illegal activity
was being pumped into terror activities and drug trafficking.
The court said giving betting legal sanctity would not
only help the government to track the transfer of money but
would also generate revenues which would be used in public
welfare.
"It does not need divine eyes to see that `satta` in
cricket and other games is reaching an alarming situation. The
extent of money that it generated is diverted to clandestine
and sinister objectives like drug trafficking and terrorist
activities," Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma said.
"It is high time that our legislature should seriously
consider legalising the entire system of betting online or
otherwise so that enough revenues can be generated to fund
various infrastructural requirements for the common man and
thus check the lucrative business in organised crime," the
court said.
Citing a media report, the court said more than Rs
20,000 crores were pumped in by the organised syndicate in
Indian Premier League (IPL) matches last year.
"A little surfing on the internet would reveal that in
Delhi alone there would be operating as many as 2,000-3,000
bookies at any given point of time when cricket matches or
even other matches are played all over the world. This could
not be done under the very nose of police without their
knowledge," the court said.
It also said that the betting activity was going on in
the country as the police failed to take proper action.
"The half-hearted and lackadaisical approach of the police
in nabbing the perpetrators of this organised crime on satta
business leaves an irresistible impression that police is not
only ill-equipped to deal with such cases but probably they
have higher stake in continuance of the same under their
patronage," it said.
The court made the remarks while allowing an appeal by
Prashant Kumar Mallik and Vicky Grover who were held guilty of
betting under the Delhi Police Gambling Act by a lower court.
It said there was not sufficient evidence to convict the
two accused who were prosecuted for organising `satta` in
the World Cup match between Australia and South Africa in
2007.
PTI
