Virat, Tamannah, Aju Varghese issued notices by court for endorsing online rummy

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday sent notices to cricketer Virat Kohli, actors Tamannah Bhatia and Aju Varghese, who are the brand ambassadors of online rummy games. The notice was in response to a petition seeking legal prohibition on online rummy games. 

As per the petition, the petitioner has requested the court to ban these online games which are not included in the Kerala Gaming Act of 1960 and are considered an offence under the Act. 

It may be noted that a 28-year-old man from Thiruvananthapuram had died by suicide on December 31 after incurring a huge monetary loss due to online rummy. Since brand ambassadors who are the icons of various fields happen to be the major influencers in such gambling games, the court in favour of the petitioner has served notice to the trio. According to reports, the HC has also sought an explanation from the state government for not taking action so far.

Earlier, there was a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed against Virat and Tamannah in the Madras HC seeking their arrest. The PIL was filed following the suicide of a youngster from Chennai who got addicted to the game and lost all his money. The petitioner, A P Suryaprakasam, who is an advocate at the Madras High Court, had highlighted the suo motu case against the Blue Whale game taken up by the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court. Taking up the case, the bench had directed the government to ban it. 

Not only this, there were many such incidents where young people get addicted to online games and end their lives. The petitioner in the Kerala HC has mentioned the fact that certain states have already issued a ban on such online games. In November 2020, the Tamil Nadu government banned online poker and rummy games excluding fantasy sports, while the Andra Pradesh government had banned all three.