Feature
Can’t a Father Touch his Daughter Lovingly? Asks Honeypreet Insaan
New Delhi: Honeypreet Insaan has said the allegations about her relationship with her adopted father Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh are baseless.
“I have full faith in the judiciary, I will approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” she said. Breaking her silence on the issue, Honeypreet questioned why people are tarnishing a father-daughter relationship. “Why are they flinging such malicious charges. Can’t a father love his daughter, can’t a father touch his daughter lovingly?” she said.
Honeypreet Insan’s former husband Vishwas Gupta had alleged that he had caught Ram Rahim having sex with Honeypreet. He claimed his ex-wife used to sleep in the “gufa” at the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters in Sirsa.
“Honeypreet slept in Ram Rahim’s bed and had sex with him too. I saw her naked with Baba,” he said, adding that Ram Rahim would ask him to stay out of his room while she was inside with him and warned him to not tell anyone about it.
Quashing reports that she had fled to Nepal, Honeypreet said that she had never left the country. “I was shocked when a look-out notice was issued against me. I never fled anywhere, was just waiting for the right legal advice.”
The court said she was not entitled to any “discretionary relief” as she has been evading arrest since the violence that had erupted after the conviction of the Dera chief on August 25, claiming 41 lives and leaving scores injured.
In the bail plea moved by her lawyer on Monday, Honeypreet has claimed that “my father Ram Rahim has been falsely implicated”. The plea also alleged that Honeypreet was facing threat to life from drug mafias in Punjab and Haryana.A court in Panchkula had issued arrest warrants against Honeypreet, whose real name is Priyanka Taneja, Aditya Insan and Pawan Insan. The Haryana Police had sounded an international alert against all three.
Honeypreet, who used to claim that she was Ram Rahim’s “adopted daughter”, starred as the main heroine in five films he directed, produced and acted in, in three years. Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of over Rs 30 lakh.
His conviction led to violence in Panchkula and Sirsa in Haryana, leaving 38 people dead and 264 injured. Isolated incidents of violence were also reported from Delhi and several other places in Punjab.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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