MATCH-FIXING DOES NOT AMOUNT TO CHEATING UNDER IPC

The Karnataka High Court recently ruled that match-fixing does not amount to cheating under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). While it is true that if a player is involved in match-fixing, a general feeling arises that he has cheated the game lovers, however, the same does not account to an offense under IPC. It may indicate the dishonesty and mental corruption of a player.

Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar held the above while hearing a batch of petitions filed by a few players of Karnataka Premier League (KPL) seeking quashing of criminal cases filed against them for offenses under Section 420 and Section 120B of the IPC. In November 2019, the Bengaluru City Crime Branch found out about an alleged match-fixing of the KPL cricket matches, held between August 15 and 31, 2019. A criminal case and a charge sheet were filed against the petitioners. It was claimed that there was a conspiracy between the owner of the Belagavi Panthers team, some of the cricketers, and bookies. The cricketers received money for playing slowly and deliberately losing matches.

The petitioners argued that match-fixing should be accounted as cheating as it has not been defined as an offense under any law. Even if the petitioners were involved in match-fixing, it would be a breach of the Code of Conduct of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), so only the BCCI has the power to take action against the players.

The State argued that people buy tickets to watch a match, believing that they are going to see a fair game. When there is a predetermined result due to match-fixing, the viewers of the game are cheated.

The Court held that the essential ingredients of cheating are not satisfied in the case of match-fixing. Viewers of the game are persuaded to part with their money by buying tickets. All the proceedings against the petitioners were thus quashed.

Author: Papiha Ghoshal