Apart from bookies and betting syndicate influencing a game, the usual practice of winning a match by thin margin to eliminate a team from getting into next level could also be a cognizable offence. Once an offence is made cognizable, the criminal procedure code empowers police to register an FIR, investigate and arrest the accused without a warrant from a court.
Law minister Kapil Sibal on Saturday told mediapersons that Attorney General GE Vahanvati has endorsed his view that the Centre must enact an exclusive law to deal with the menace of spot and match-fixing offences as sports featuring in the legislative domain of the states did not cover crimes in sports, which has assumed both national and international ramifications.
Given the worldwide trend of providing stringent punishments for match-fixing and spot-fixing - most countries provide for imprisonment up to 10 years on conviction - it would be unlikely that the UPA government would propose a lenient sentence for such offences that take passionate cricket lovers for a ride.
Though the proposed law would cover all sporting events, including cricket, the UPA government's focus remained on the gentleman's game. Sibal said, "We cannot let down millions of fans for whom cricket is a passion, almost a religion."
The law would be as broad-based as possible to cover all kinds of malpractices, he said, and cited an example: it would be considered a corrupt practice if a team deliberately wins a match by a small margin to eliminate entry of another team to the next level on the basis of net run rate.
"Any act, signal or contact through technology or otherwise, which changes the course or outcome of a game, will be brought under the purview of the legislation," Sibal said.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who met Sibal along with IPL commissioner Rajiv Shukla to extend BCCI's support for the move, said that the proposed legislation "should seek to apply the principles of `insider trading' in the corporate world for cleansing the sports; namely, no sharing of information with outsiders for monetary consideration or otherwise, a deliberate contact with those involved in betting, and personal involvement in betting and rigging".
Insider trading in stock exchanges is a crime punishable with Rs 5 lakh penalty or up to three years of imprisonment.
Supporting the move for a separate law for dealing with unfair practices and crime in sports, Jaitley said, "Players and administrators of sports acting in collusion with bookies or betting syndicates for a consideration or otherwise need to be stringently penalized. Any law which intends to do it is welcome".
However, the present controversy relating to spot-fixing in the sixth edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) would have to be dealt with under the provisions of Indian Penal Code and other penal laws like Public Gambling Act, 1967, as the proposed law would be prospective in application.
"How the police of different states were going to deal with the IPL controversy is their outlook and I am not here to advise them or the BCCI on this issue," Sibal said.
This declaration coupled with the lack of stringent provision to deal with the scale of the crime in IPL T20 tournament indicates that those accused in the crime - S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila, Ankeet Chavan, the bookies, go-betweens and corporate - may get away light even if charges were proved in court.
Inadequacy of IPC provisions convinced Attorney General G E Vahanvati to opine that it would be better if the Union government enacted a comprehensive legislation, Sibal said and declared that the Opposition as well as Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) were on board for a stringent law to curb.
The proposed legislation was in the final stages of drafting by the legislative department of law ministry. Once the exercise was completed, the draft law would be sent to the sports ministry, which would then consult experts and sports persons to ensure that maximum possible corrupt practices were brought under the rigour of the law.
"We hope to present the bill in this regard after completing all formalities in the monsoon session of Parliament," he added.
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