logo
Welcome Guest! You are here: Home » India

TN mulls ordinance banning online rummy after spate of suicides

TN government on Friday set up a four-member committee headed by Justice (Rtd) Chandru to give recommendations for the ordinance

Friday June 10, 2022 8:22 PM, IANS

Ban on Rummy

Chennai: A spate of suicides after losing money, including on Thursday night by a 32-year-old woman, has led to the Tamil Nadu government constituting a committee to give recommendations in two weeks for the promulgation of an ordinance against playing online rummy.

4-member committee

The government on Friday set up a four-member committee headed by Justice (Rtd) Chandru to give recommendations for the ordinance.

Justice (Rtd) Chandru is a human rights and Dalit activist, and was instrumental as an advocate in getting justice for the Irula tribal woman who had fought a case for her husband who was later found to be killed in a police lock-up. This incident of 1996 was depicted in the movie "Jai Bhim" in which Tamil superstar Suriya played the role of Chandru.

The government decided on the committee following several deaths due to people losing money in online rummy games.

 


Latest incident of suicide

The latest incident was the suicide of a 32-year-old woman, Bhuvaneshwari at Nandambakkam, Chennai on Thursday night after her jobless husband Suresh lost Rs 20,000.

The money, according to the police, was kept aside by Bhuvaneshwari to pay the fees of her son who is studying in Class IX. Suresh, according to the police, was jobless and was addicted to online rummy.

The money was taken by Suresh without the knowledge of Bhuvaneshwari. When she questioned Suresh he admitted that he had taken the money for playing online rummy.

An infuriated Bhuvaneshwari got into a fight with Suresh and later went to her room and hanged herself with her dupatta.

Victims' family demand ban

On June 5, a 29-year-old woman, Bhavani committed suicide after losing heavily in online rummy games in Manali near Chennai. Police said that she had the habit of playing online rummy and had made good profits in the earlier stages.

This spurred her to invest more money only to lose a huge amount in the past four months. She lost over ten lakh rupees. Her husband Bhagyaraj and her relative Saravanan said that she ended her life only due to her mounting debts in online rummy and called for a ban on the game.

Many youngsters in Tamil Nadu have ended their lives in the past few years after losing money in the online rummy games.

C. Rajeev, Director, Centre for Policy and Development Studies, a think tank based out of Chennai, told IANS:

"The state government must take the initiative to promulgate an ordinance to ban online rummy in the state. People are losing lives by being addicted to online rummy which has led to several children becoming orphans following the death of the breadwinners of the family. A person like Justice (rtd) Chandru heading the panel of four members is a laudable effort of the state government and we hope that the online rummy menace is stopped in Tamil Nadu."

PMK demands immediate ban

Meanwhile, PMK state President Anbumani Ramadoss led a protest march at Chennai's Egmore and criticised the DMK government for not bringing in a law to ban online gambling.

He said that 23 persons had lost their lives in Tamil Nadu since the ban was overturned in Tamil Nadu since August 2021. Addressing the cadres, he said that alcohol, drugs, and online gambling were widespread among the youth and had claimed many lives since 2014.

Ramadoss said that the party founder leader Dr.S. Ramadoss has been conducting a campaign for the past seven years against the online rummy menace. "We will not tolerate this anymore and demand an immediate ban," he said.

He said that before the state government banned online gambling in November 2020 through an ordinance and later by law in February 2021, around 60 suicides were recorded through online gambling.

The PMK leader said that after the state government banned online gambling between November 2020 and August 2021, there were no deaths and since the ban was overturned in August 2021, more people lost their lives due to online rummy games.


For all the latest News, Opinions and Views, download ummid.com App.

Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.

Google News

Share this page

 Post Comments
Note: By posting your comments here you agree to the terms and conditions of www.ummid.com
.
Logo