The exoneration of three cricketers who were cleared of spot-fixing charges, along with a host of others, must bring much happiness to the Indian cricket circle. The trial court held that the Delhi police had failed to establish any nexus between the accused and the D-company’s organised cricket betting racket. So the accused stand legally absolved of the crime of tampering with the results of IPL cricket matches. There are, however, two angles to this. The first is the legal in which the cricketers have found some relief now. The second is moral in which Indian cricket has failed miserably ever since the Hansie Cronje saga was exposed by the Delhi police nearly 20 years ago.
The judgement read that the case under MCOCA had collapsed technically and that not even the Gaming Act would cover cricket since it is a game of skill. The existence of a vacuum in the realm of law has been pointed out, which lacuna cannot be corrected unless Parliament passes the proposed new legislation that would make cheating of the public by fixing sports results a criminal offence. No time frame can be laid at the door of legislators regarding a new sports law, which is why we see the fair name of cricket being dragged through the mud.
The BCCI has taken the high moral ground in saying the life bans on the three cricketers stand as they are based on its own disciplinary procedures. How long it can hold on would depend on what happens when those acquitted by court seek legal redress, which process will be further complicated by prosecutors appealing against the trial court exoneration. The transcripts made available to the Mudgal and Lodha Committees are damning on moral grounds and point to there being several grounds for believing in the complicity of cricketers and IPL team officials in betting and fixing. But such transcripts may not stand in court as the police would also have to produce evidence of the money trail, etc.
Sport, particularly cricket, has to aim for a nobler morality. Otherwise, even Hansie Cronje would have been pronounced not guilty if he had not told the truth under oath before the King Commission in South Africa. It is towards cleaning up the game that Supreme Court-appointed committees have been working overtime to do what the game’s establishment in India has steadfastly refused to do. That process should not stop due to one trial court verdict. While the trio is to be considered innocent and must be helped towards rehabilitation even if appeals are up before the courts, cricket cannot afford to slacken its vigil against evil forces.
