PIL v Virat Kohli, Tamannaah for approving rejected online games

Chennai: Madras High Court (Madurai Bench) dismissed public interest lawsuit to bring action against movie and sports celebrities such as actors Tamannaah Bhatia, Prakash Raj, Rana Dagubatti and Sudeep and former cricketers Virat Kohli and Saurav Ganguly for endorsing online games.

Last year, another chamber of the court sent opinions to these celebrities on a request from one, Mohammed Razvi, who accused the actors of games harmful to the people. The petitioner claimed that some people who lost a lot of money in online rummy and other games even died by suicide.

However, on Tuesday, a bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice M Duraiswamy ruled that the petition was filed for publicity purposes. The court observed that the petition was a “waste of time” and nothing more than an attempt on the part of the petitioner to get publicity. The petition, said the bench, was fueled by Rizvi’s “ambition to propel himself to stardom” by challenging commercials involving celebrities.

The petitioner was, however, free to approach the competent authorities, which he deemed appropriate, to take action to ban all online gambling, the judges said.

Posted on: Tuesday September 28, 2021 9:51 PM IST