BABU BHAI Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners have filed this petition under S. 482, Cr. P.C. for quashing FIR No. 167 of 1997 dated 1-7-1997 of Police Station, Jalore, by which, a case under S. 13 of the Rajasthan Public Gambling Ordinance, 1949 was registered against them.

(2.) The brief facts leading to this petition are that petitioner Babu Bhai submitted an application for grant of licence for dramatic performance and entertainment to the District Magistrate Jalore. After the issuance of the said licence, petitioner Babu bhai started a Stall for holding dramatic performance and entertainment. Thereafter, it is alleged that on 1-7-1997 at about 11-30 p.m. Circle Inspector Gopal Ramawal while patrolling the city happened to visit the stall of the petitioner and he found that the petitioner was conducting an Arrow Dart Game and many persons of the public were participating, it. In the FIR the Circle Inspector has described the manner in which this game was being played. A square wooden board which had 900 hundred squares of six different colours was fixed up at some distance from the ground; the players who wanted to participate in the above game used to stand at a particular distance from the target; between him and the target was a table on which were placed card-board squares bearing coloured discs and the players used to choose their colours and put the rupee coins on it; he was being given four darts; if the player places all the four darts on squares of the pre-selected colour on the target, he is paid three rupees; apparently he used to get a rupee for every successful throw; total failure means loss of the stake. According to the concerned Circle Inspector, the above game was a game of chance and the above act falls within the mischief of S. 13 of the Rajasthan Public Gambling Ordinance. He, therefore, registered a case against the petitioners.

(3.) I have hard Mr. Sukh Deo Vyas, the learned counsel for the petitioners and Mr. S. K. Vyas, Public Prosecutor for the State and have carefully gone through the record of the case.