Feature
Woman sold for Rs 10000 to person forced to work as domestic help for gang-rape
Meerut: In a shocking incident, A woman, who was “sold” for Rs 10,000 and raped by people for whom she was forced to work as domestic help, set herself on fire after Uttar Pradesh police officials allegedly refused to register her complaint, according to the Delhi Commission for Women.
The woman is now admitted to a Ghaziabad hospital with 80 per cent burn injuries.
The UP police, however, disputed the allegation that senior officials turned her away and said the matter is under investigation.
DCW chief Swati Maliwal wrote a letter to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, urging him to investigate the police officials in Hapur district for refusing to register the complaint of the woman.
She wrote that the woman suffered intolerable abuse at the hands of UP police. Maliwal said because of the insensitive and shameful attitude of the police officials, the woman had to set herself on fire.
According to the DCW chief’s letter, the woman was “sold” to a man, who had taken loans from several people, in Hapur for Rs 10,000. He forced her to work as domestic help for those people without paying her. The woman was repeatedly abused and gangraped at these places.
The woman has alleged that she approached the Hapur SP and other senior officials but they did not register her complaint nor they took action against people she had named.
Woman sold for Rs 10000 for being gang-rape by person forced to work as domestic help:
Following this, she attempted suicide by immolating herself on April 28. Maliwal has urged Adityanath to provide proper compensation to the woman.
After the DCW intervention, UP police have registered an FIR against Babugarh sarpanch and 13 others for raping the woman, but they say prima facie the case is suspicious and hence they have not arrested anyone.
Hapur SP Yashvir Singh told media person over the phone that whether she immolated herself or she was set on fire is under investigation.
Singh refused to accept that police officials refused to register her complaint because of which she had to attempt suicide. He also said the woman has a history of troubled marriages and she has ended her marriage twice before.
She finally married a man in Moradabad and was living with him, he said.
The SP said the incidents of abuse and rape with the woman are five years old and the incidents happened at different times at different places.
Police officials have talked to villagers about the woman’s complaints but none of them verified her account, he 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.