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The Uttar Pradesh government is expected to make more stringent laws for gambling in public places. The State Law Commission has not only made the Public Gambling Act enacted during the British era stricter but also put online gambling and various forms of betting in the category of non-bailable offences.
After studying the laws of several states, the draft of Uttar Pradesh Public Gambling (Prevention) Bill has been prepared under the chairmanship of a commission led by Justice A N Mittal. A draft scripted by the Commission was submitted to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday. It is believed that the state government would soon implement its own law across the state with regards to gambling.
The State Law Commission in its draft has recommended to increase the amount of fine along with the provision of maximum punishment of three years. The special component is that the draft of this new law has been made keeping in mind the fast growing habit of online gambling in the last decade. Important recommendations have also been made to break the nexus of gambling houses and bookies in the state.
The Central government is also preparing to repeal the Public Gambling Act and the states have been instructed to make their own laws for this. For this Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Goa, Nagaland, Odisha, Telangana, Delhi and some other states have already enacted their own laws.
The UP Law Commission has studied many important decisions of the Supreme Court and High Court along with the laws of other states. Along with this, keeping in mind the circumstances of the state, the draft of UP Public Gambling (Prevention) Bill has been drafted.
At present, there is a provision of imprisonment of three months and a fine of Rs 50 for gambling in a public place. The Commission has recommended increasing the punishment to one year and a fine of Rs 5,000. Also, making online gambling, house gambling operation and betting a non-bailable offense, it has recommended punishment of up to three years.
The salient feature is that now the police will not have to resort to IPC sections to tighten the legal noose on those betting crores of rupees in cricket matches or other sports. The commission has also proposed that if betting was being conducted in a gambling house or any premises, then it would be presumed that the amount recovered is related to gambling and all the people present there were gamblers.
Chairman of the commission, Justice AN Mittal said that a distinction has also been made between game of skill and chance. Card games played under a game of skill like rummy, bridge etc will not be punishable. However games like kat patta and teen patti, in which the better is solely dependent on a single chance, would amount to a punishable offence. He said that if a family plays cards in their house for rituals and entertainment and no outsider is present there, it will not be punishable.