Shrigururaj Dilip Po... v. The State Of Maharas..., Bombay High Court, Judgment, Law, casemine.com

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Case Number

Public Interest Litigation No. 52 of 2016

Attorney(S)

Mr. Umesh Mankapure a/w Mr. Akshay Shinde for Petitioner.
Mr. P.P Kakade, AGP for State.
Mr. Girish Godbole a/w Mr. Jaydeep Mane for Respondent Nos. 5 & 9.
Mr. A.Y Sakhare, Senior Advocate a/w Agasti Vibhute for Respondent No. 7.

Judges

Manjula Chellur, C.J
G.S Kulkarni, J.

Acts

Section 12A of the Bombay Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887.
provisions of Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act(c)

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Smart Summary

Factual and Procedural Background

This opinion arises from a petition challenging the publication of certain numbers in newspapers, which the Commissioner of Police, Solapur, had investigated and subsequently closed the investigation based on statements from newspaper editors claiming the numbers were related to Jyotish-shashtra and Ank-shastra (Astrology and Numerology). The Court noted the lack of evidence regarding the legitimacy or expertise behind these predictions and expressed prima facie satisfaction that the publications potentially violated Section 12A of the Bombay Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887. Interim relief was granted pending final disposal of the petition.

Legal Issues Presented

Whether the publication of numbers in newspapers, claimed to be based on Astrology and Numerology, constitutes an offence under Section 12A of the Bombay Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887.
Whether interim directions should be issued to restrain the publication of betting/gambling charts in newspapers pending final adjudication.

Arguments of the Parties

The opinion does not contain a detailed account of the parties' legal arguments.

Table of Precedents Cited

No precedents were cited in the provided opinion.

Court's Reasoning and Analysis

The Court analyzed the affidavit-in-reply filed by the Sub-Divisional Officer and was surprised by the closure of the investigation solely based on editors’ statements that the numbers published were related to Astrology and Numerology. The Court observed that there was no record indicating the Commissioner’s satisfaction with the validity of these claims, nor any evidence of expert opinion or whether the numbers changed daily. Based on these observations, the Court was prima facie satisfied that the publications fell under the ambit of Section 12A of the Bombay Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887. Consequently, the Court granted interim relief directing authorities to take appropriate action and restraining the publication of such betting/gambling charts pending the final hearing.

Holding and Implications

The Court issued the following holding:

Interim relief granted:

Respondent Nos. 1 to 4 are directed to take appropriate and strict action against Respondent Nos. 5 to 10 under the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act.
Respondent Nos. 5 to 10 are restrained from publishing betting/gambling charts in their newspapers pending final disposal of the petition.

The direct effect of this decision is to impose interim restrictions on the publication of certain numerical predictions in newspapers, treating them as potentially constituting gambling under the relevant legislation. No broader precedent was established as this is a prima facie order pending final adjudication.

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Shrigururaj Dilip Pore Petitioner v. The State Of Maharashtra, Through Principal Secretary, Home Department, Mantralaya & Ors. S

1. After going through the affidavit-in-reply filed by Mr. Shahaji Pawar, Sub-Divisional Officer, Solapur, especially para 11 thereof, the Court is surprised to know that the investigation initiated by Commissioner of Police, Solapur, came to be closed by the Commissioner after recording the statements of editors of the newspapers in question that the numbers published in the said newspapers which is part of record, are just to depict Jyotish-shashtra and Ank-shastra (Astrology and Numerology respectively). Based on this statement, the Commissioner goes to the extent of saying that there is no offence committed by the said newspapers. There is nothing on record to show that the Commissioner was satisfied with this statement of Astrology and Numerology with regard to what to predict and if this Astrology and Numerology are predicting some numbers for the benefit of general public, whether these numbers change everyday. There is nothing on record to show who are the experts of Astrology and Numerology who have given these predictions, if at all these are Astrology and Numerology predictions. We are, prima facie, satisfied that the grievance raised that such publication in the newspapers would squarely fall under Section 12A of the Bombay Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887. We are satisfied to grant interim relief in terms of para 13 (b), (b) and (c) which read as under:—

“(a) Pending the hearing and final disposal of the present Petition, to direct the Respondent Nos. 1 to 4 to take appropriate action against the Respondent Nos. 5 to 10 in accordance with the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act;

(b) Pending the hearing and final disposal of the present Petition, to direct the Respondent Nos. 1 to 4 to take strict and immediate steps to curb the activities which are prohibited under the provisions of Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act

(c) Pending the hearing and final disposal of the present Petition, to restrain the Respondent Nos. 5 to 10, their servants, agents, heirs, administers, assigns, members or any other office bearers or any person on their behalf from publishing the betting/gambling charts in their daily Newspapers as shown at Exh. (A).”

2. We direct respondent nos. 1 to 4 and the newspapers and the newspapers to strictly comply with our interim directions, failing which the petitioner is at liberty to bring to our notice for further action.

3. Stand over to 31 March 2017.

Shrigururaj Dilip Po... v. The State Of Maharas...