A petition filed at the Bombay High Court sought to clarify if Poker is a game of skill or gamble. The petition was filed after the police raided an apartment in Goregaon and booked 29 persons, for playing a game of poker, under various sections of the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act.
A division bench of Justice R M Sawant and Justice Sandeep Shinde by way of interim relief, restrained the police from filing a charge sheet in the case registered by them in 2016. It has asked the prosecution to file a reply to the petition, filed by one of the accused, Nasir Patel, who allegedly ran the club.
As per the petition filed by Patel through his advocate Ram Mani Upadhyay states that "The Honorable Karnataka High Court and other High Courts of India have clearly held that poker is a game of skill and if the same is played without flouting any norms in accordance with law, its not an offense." Thus the present case should be quashed and set aside.
The petition also says, "There is no prima facie case to establish as to how a card game of Poker, being played among friends, within the four boundaries at a private place could be a gamble, until the same is not prohibited by any law."
According to the police, on receipt of a tip-off that some people were gambling, in an apartment, a raid was conducted and they found that two tables with eight chairs surrounding them, were placed and people were using coins to play the game of poker. It is alleged that Patel, when questioned said that he was the cashier and also operating the gambling den. Accordingly, police had arrested 29 people, but the magistrate had soon granted them bail.
The petition claims that police failed to consider that no gamble was being done, but it was a private entertainment party with friends and Poker was being played for entertainment purposes only.
Further, the police failed to consider that no license is required to play Poker within private premises for entertainment and recreational purposes.
