Feature
Punish real perpetrators in Mumbai train blasts case: Owaisi
Hyderabad: MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said the sentence in Mumbai train blasts case was reflection of “misrule” of Maharashtra’s erstwhile Congress-NCP government and called for punishing the real perpetrators to give justice to the victims.
Reacting to sentence pronounced by special MCOCA court sending five convicts to the gallows and seven others to life terms in the case relating to July 11, 2006 blasts which killed 189 people and injured 829, he said punishing others in place of the guilty was injustice.
The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader hoped that the high court will do justice by taking into account the fresh evidence in the case.
“#Mumbai train blast verdict is reflection of governance of Congress & NCP this will raise Qs about their bias, botched investigations,” the Hyderabad MP tweeted.
Owaisi later told reporters that the Indian Express in its expose revealed that Sadiq Sheikh, an alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative, stated in a video recording in 2009 that IM group carried out the blasts to take revenge for Gujarat riots.
He noted that then Crime Branch head Rakesh Maria filed a charge sheet saying Sadiq Sheikh and IM carried out blats while Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Raghuvanshi in his charge sheet named 12 others.
“This latest evidence shows the rampant corruption, misgovernance and miscarriage of justice with Muslim youth during 15-year rule of Congress and NCP,” he said.
The MIM chief said many Muslim youth were still in jails without evidence. He also cited the example of Malegaon blast as it is still not clear whether it was carried out by a Muslim or Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and Col. Prasad Purohit (retd.). “ATS says one thing and NIA says something else.”
Owaisi hoped that Himayat Baig, who was sentenced to death in the Pune blast case, will also get justice when the case comes to a conclusion.
He said Himayat Baig case, train blasts case, Aurangabad arms haul case and both bomb blasts in Malegaon happened under Congress-NCP rule and all were busted up due to confusion. “Innocents are going to jail while the real perpetrators are not being punished,” he said and asked the two parties to react in view of the new evidence in train blasts case.
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.
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