If we legalise gambling, will rape cases decline?

Jug Suraiya
14 November 2013, 01:24 PM IST

The outspoken CBI chief Ranjit Sinha – who has recently been ticked off by both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister P Chidambaram for trying to overstep the jurisdiction of his agency and thereby adding to the climate of fear and 'policy paralysis' that has gripped the bureaucracy in the current season of scams and consequent witch hunts for culprits – has once again put his foot in his mouth, by comparing rape to illegal gambling.

While women's groups and others have vociferously protested this gross and unsavoury comparison, CBI spokespeople have tried to soothe ruffled feathers by explaining that what Sinha really meant was that since illegal gambling was too pervasive to be stopped by policing, it would be better to "lie back and enjoy it" – in other words, make it legal, which would enable the government to tax it and so open up an extra channel of revenue and would also permit an already overstretched police force to concentrate on trying to prevent more serious crimes, instead of wasting time and effort trying to stamp out various gambling rackets.

Though unhappily phrased, Sinha's remark deserves consideration. As evidenced by the crucial gaming episode in The Mahabharata, gambling is very much a part of the Indian ethos and has been so since time immemorial. Several Indian states have government-run lotteries which help them earn income. Horse racing and casinos are legal in some states, and again help to fill government coffers through taxes.

So why not legalise other forms of gambling, such as matka, or betting on the results of cricket matches, or the outcome of elections? Illegal gambling is a multi-crore industry in India. If it were to be legitimised and given official recognition, it could prove to be a substantial source of funding for the government which could impose a hefty tax – as is the case of horse racing for example – on each recorded wager.

Equally, if not more importantly, legitimising gambling could help to focus the attention of law enforcement agencies on more serious offences, like rape. As it is, police officers only too often plead lack of manpower for not allowing complainants to file FIRs (First Information Reports), even when the alleged offence committed is of a serious nature.

In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court has decreed that any refusal to file an FIR about a serious offence will invite penal action against the police personnel concerned. The police and other hard-pressed law enforcement agencies – already inundated with investigations relating to a flood of scams and swindles – need to shed an unnecessary load that they may be carrying. Trying to put a stop to illegal gambling – an impossible task, in any case – is one such needless burden that they could well be relieved of.

Never mind trying to apprehend illegal gamblers. Apprehend would-be rapists and murderers instead. This would help to make society a safer bet for all of us, gamblers and non-gamblers alike.