'Gambling In A Public Place Is A Cognizable Offence', High Court Said - Arrest Without Warrant Is Not Wrong

Law correspondent, Prayagraj. The Allahabad High Court has said in a decision that gambling in a public place is a cognizable offense and in the case registered in it, the police can arrest someone without warrant as well as investigate.

The single bench of Justice Vivek Kumar Singh made this comment while dismissing the petition of Agra resident Kamran along with directing the trial court to complete the trial in three months.

The petitioner had filed a petition under Section 528 Indian Security Code for quashing the pending criminal case proceedings before the Special Chief Judicial Magistrate, Agra.

The facts related to the case are that in December 2019, the accused was arrested along with his co-accused for playing cards in a park in Sikandra. Police had recovered Rs 750. Later a charge sheet was filed under Section 13 of the Public Gambling Act 1867.

The petitioner's advocate said that the maximum punishment for a first-time offense under Section 13 in the state is one month's imprisonment. Citing CrPC, it argued that offenses punishable with imprisonment of less than three years are generally 'non-cognizable'. Therefore, the police could not arrest the accused or investigate the crime without the order of the magistrate.

Cited Section 155(2) of CrPC, which provides that no police officer will investigate a non-cognizable case without the order of a Magistrate. It was said that the police did not take permission from the Magistrate to start the investigation, hence the entire action initiated immediately after the registration of the FIR is void.

The court said, 'It is very clear from the above definition that in cognizable offences, the police officer can arrest any person without warrant. Section 13 of the Gambling Act empowers the police to arrest any person without warrant, therefore, it cannot be said that Section 13 of the Gambling Act is a non-cognizable offence.’

The court also rejected the argument relied upon by certain decisions holding that Section 3/4 of the Act (relating to being kept or found in a common gambling house) is non-cognizable.

Said sections 3 and 4 require different procedures. The specific power given to the police under Section 13 to arrest persons gambling in public places makes it a cognizable offence. Therefore, it was not wrong to register an FIR and submit the charge sheet without the order of the Magistrate. The magistrate's action is not wrong.