Feature
No anticipatory bail for Honeypreet
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected the transit anticipatory bail plea of Honeypreet Insan, wanted by the Haryana Police to face changes of sedition and inciting violence following the arrest of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim in twin rape cases last month.
Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal dismissed her plea for three-week transit anticipatory bail, saying she was not entitled to any discretionary relief as she has evaded arrest.
“The easiest way out is that you surrender,” Justice Sehgal said, while asking why she was seeking transit anticipatory bail for three weeks. “First you come on jurisdiction (sic). Why has the plea been moved here? You surrender in Delhi and we will take care,” the judge had told her counsel during the proceedings.
Priyanka Taneja alias Honeypreet is among of 43 persons wanted by the Haryana Police in connection with violence that followed Ram Rahim’s conviction. She has been on the run since Ram Rahim’s conviction in two rape cases.
Honeypreet’s advocate Pradeep Kumar Arya sought transit anticipatory bail application i.e. protection from arrest during her transit from Delhi to Haryana for joining probe on the ground that she was a woman and ready to join the investigation. He said there was threat to her life.
“It is to humiliate me. I am not required for custodial interrogation. If I am given protection, I will move to Panchkula court or the Punjab and Haryana High Court for anticipatory bail. I am not even named in the FIR. What kind of sedition charges can be there against me,” Arya contended. ade out only if a person resided here permanently. While Honeypreet’s passport showed her address to be of Sirsa in Haryana, the place where a person is roaming around cannot decide jurisdiction for filing the bail plea, he said.
“Forum shopping is the exact name for such petitions. Where was she all this while? And where she is now is anybody’s guess. She is not coming clean before this court,” Grover said.
Entertainment
Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.