India News | Ensure No Illegal Activities in Clubs: HC

Chennai, Feb 7 (PTI) The Madras High Court has directed recreational clubs in Tamil Nadu to install within a reasonable period CCTV cameras at entry and exit of their premises and play-areas wherein game(s) is/are played by the members.

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Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy gave the direction while disposing of a two criminal original petitions from M M Nagar Sports and Recreation Centre at Maraimalai Nagar in Kanchipuram district and the other from Five Star Sports Club at Vadapalani in the city.

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The petitions sought to restrain the local police personnel from interfering with the day-to-day-affairs of the clubs.

The judge said that the CCTV footage of at least prior 30 days' period shall be made available by the petitioner to the jurisdictional police as and when called upon to do so provided the request made by the police is for the specific purpose in accordance with law.

While issuing interim orders on the petitions in November last year, the judge had suggested to the clubs to install CCTV cameras in all the places in the clubs. He had impleaded the DGP as a party in the case and sought for his comments on his suggestion. He passed the final orders on February 4.

Disposing of the petitions, the judge said issued certain directions taking into consideration a ruling of the Supreme Court in another case, as well as the provision, particularly, Section 5 of Tamil Nadu Gaming Act, 1930.

The petitioners shall not permit any activity by any of its member(s) by indulging in gaming punishable under the TN Gaming Act or the Public Gambling Act. The member(s) shall not be allowed to play any kind of game(s) with stakes or make any profit or gain out of the game(s) played inside the club premises.

They shall put proper mechanism in place and shall ensure that no game(s) is played in any unlawful manner by the member(s). If the jurisdictional police find the game(s) played is/are contrary to any law and in violation of the settled practice, it is open to them to take action against the petitioner and the offenders in accordance with law and in the event they intend to enter the club, then the same can be done only after satisfying the requirements of Section 5 of the Gaming Act.

No police officer shall straightway walk into the place, make a raid and search without reason to believe that such place is used as gaming-house.

Any police officer not below the rank of DSP or AC or an officer not below the rank of Sub-Inspector through warrant issued by any Judicial Magistrate or the DSP or the AC has reason to believe that any place is used as a common gaming-house, shall conduct raid/inspection by entering the Clubs/recreation centres, by night or by day, any such place and to arrest all persons found therein and to seize all instruments of gaming and all money.

In the event of any police officer below the rank of rank of the DSP or AC or SI enter the premises without warrant on the guise of suspicion or information received that the members of the clubs are indulging in illegal activities, would be construed that the said police officer making an attempt to enter or entered the club premises without his official capacity, in such case, the management of clubs/recreation centres concerned can object to it and take recourse in the manner known to law.

The police shall endeavour to the maximum extent not to enter the club premises unnecessarily thereby causing inconvenience to other members and get all information using the details available in the CCTV footage. They shall not attempt to access the footage other than the ones required thereby infringing the right to privacy of other members who are in no way connected or involved. The jurisdictional police in accordance with Section 5 (1) of the Tamil Nadu Gaming Act, 1930 shall have liberty to visit premises on receipt of any information about any unlawful activity being carried on in the petitioner's premises and take further action strictly in accordance with law, the judge said and directed the police concerned in this case not to interfere with the lawful recreational activities carried on by the members of the petitioner's club/association.

The judge also made it clear that this order would not come in the way of the jurisdictional police invoking the relevant provisions of the Act and taking action in accordance with law, if the member(s) of the petitioner is/are found to have indulged in any unlawful or immoral activities.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)