BANGALORE: The High Court on Monday ruled that playing the card game of ‘andar bahar’ does not amount to gambling.
Four residents of Kerodi Lingadahalli in Shimoga district - Vishwanath, Shrikant B, Krishnamurty and Kumar - approached the court after they were booked for gambling on being caught playing the game at their house.
An officer from Sagar police station had on June 24, 2014, raided Vishwanath’s house on being informed of gambling and seized `930 and three mobile phones.
Vishwanath alleged that the police had registered the case against him at the behest of inimical people and said the others were at his house to attend a religious ceremony.
The petition states that the game is about skills and is not a game of chance.
Police Action Flayed
The court on Monday, while quashing the case, criticised the police’s action and observed that a bet placed for a petty amount with relatives and friends to kill time cannot be termed as gambling.
Further, the court said raiding people’s houses on the allegation of gambling is illegal and is “nothing but an abuse of law”.