Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal (in pic) accepted here on Saturday that at the moment Indian Penal Code (IPC) laws were not sufficient enough to punish cheats in sports and there was no offence under the IPC for dishonest practices in sports.
“You can’t prosecute anybody for that offence. I don’t know about the current spot fixing case, but maybe there are other provisions which are being attracted. I don’t know that. I am not here to advise the investigating authorities,” he said.
The Union government has sough advice from attorney general G E Vahanvati on what could be done to check malpractices in sports since match fixing or spot fixing doesn’t come under the existing laws. “He advised us to have new laws. We are drafting them and soon we will send this to the sports ministry,” Sibal said.
A charge sheet for the 2000 match fixing controversy has yet to be filed because of this problem.u00a0The Delhi police have been charged S Sreesanth and other tainted players under section 409 (1860) of IPC which says “Criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent.
Whoever, being in any manner entrusted with property, or with any dominion over property in his capacity of a public servant or in the way of his business as a banker, merchant, factor, broker, attorney or agent, commits criminal breach of trust in respect of that property, shall be punished with 1 (imprisonment for life), or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.”
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