Rattled by the IPL spot-fixing scandal, the government is mulling a new law to sternly deal with such offences.
Law Minister Kapil Sibal held consultations with Sports Minister Jitendra Singh and later said a new bill to effectively tackle spot-fixing and match-fixing would hopefully be introduced in Parliament in the next session.
He said there was a need for a "separate law" as the Indian Penal Code (IPC) does not recognise match-fixing and spot-fixing as offences.
"And I don't think the offence of cheating is something that adequately deals with the issue of spot-fixing and match-fixing," he told reporters here.
On the spot-fixing controversy in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) matches, he said it "destroys the confidence of the public in the sport and that's not good for those consumers, for the people of India who watch this sport and participate in this sport.
"We cannot afford them to lose confidence in the sport -- not just in cricket but any sport which is affected by match-fixing and spot-fixing," he said.
The Law Minister said in a bid to "bring back that confidence," India needs to have a "separate law."
He has already asked the Law Ministry officials to work on such a law.
"I have also talked to the Sports Minister. He is fully on board. Once the broad parameters of the law are made out, I will hand it over to the Sports Ministry to take it to the Cabinet and hopefully introduce it in the coming session of Parliament," he said.
Referring to the passage of the bill, Sibal said he does not think any political party will have any objection "and may be if all political parties agree, we can even pass it with consensus."
Earlier, he told PTI that he has talked to the Sports Minister. "We will soon draft a new law to deal with the malice of betting," he said.
The IPL was dealt a massive blow when Special Cell of Delhi police arrested pacer S Sreesanth and his Rajasthan Royals teammates -- Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan -- on Thursday for allegedly indulging in spot-fixing in at least three IPL matches as per arrangements with bookies who are suspected to have underworld connections abroad.
