Ahmedabad: A woman police sub-inspector has moved the Gujarat high court after she was booked for gambling by Junagadh police and suspended from service.
Saroj Vavaiya, who was posted in the Somnath temple security, was booked with 10 others at Junagadh taluka police station after a raid on a farmhouse in Padariya village on August 3. She was summoned to the police station by notice and was arrested when she went to the police station on August 5. She was suspended from duty on August 11.
Vavaiya filed a quashing petition through advocate Utkarsh Dave, taking exception to filing of the FIR and her arrest under Sections 4 and 5 of the Gambling Act.
Her petition contends that Section 4 is applicable to operators of gambling houses. The premises raided was a private house and not a public place.
The petitioner also contended that Sections 4 and 5 of the Act are punishable by imprisonment of up to six months and are thus non-cognizable offences. An FIR could not have been filed under these sections and arrest could not be effected. A person can be arrested under this law, but only under Section 12 of the Act, which has not been invoked in this case. She also pleaded for a stay on the investigation while her quashing petition is pending. On Friday, Justice Samir Dave refused to hear the petition on an urgent basis. It may come up for hearing next week.