Madras High Court dismisses PIL against celebrity endorsement of online games

The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed last year against online games and the celebrity endorsement of the same. (Mohammed Razvi v. TRAI and ors).The Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice M Duraiswamy termed the plea a waste of time and fuelled by an ambition to gain publicity. However, the Bench gave the petitioner liberty to approach appropriate authorities "to take steps to prohibit online games or such of the activities that do not appeal to the taste of the petitioner."."There is no doubt that this petition is fuelled by the petitioner’s ambition to propel himself to stardom by questioning the participation of several prominent personalities in certain advertisements ... The present public interest litigation is a waste of time and nothing but an attempt by the petitioner to gain publicity," the order stated. .Another Bench comprising of Justices N Kirubakaran (now retired) and B Pugalendhi had earlier issued notice in the matter in November last year. .In his petition, advocate Mohammad Razvi had named six celebrities as respondents i.e. cricketers Saurav Ganguly and Virat Kohli and actors Prakash Raj, Tamannaah, Rana Daggubati and Sudeep, and registered protest over their endorsement of various online games. .The petition had submitted that online games promoted cyber bullying, violence and xenophobia. Appearing for the petitioner today, advocate K Neelamegam argued that even yesterday, a seventeen-year old student had died by suicide. .He urged the Court for some action, while submitting that youngsters in Tamil Nadu are crazy about film stars and crickets who endorse online games by indicating that money can be won by simply playing the game..He added that the High Court's August 2021 judgment in Junglee Games India Private Limited v. State of Tamil Nadu only dealt with online rummy. As such, he urged the Court to direct the authorities to consider some restrictions for other online games. .Appearing for Sourav Ganguly, senior advocate PS Raman informed the Bench that the petition also sought action against celebrities endorsing online games. .Advocate Akash, appearing for Rana Daggubati added that it is a publicity interest litigation and that the High Court's August judgment had already addressed such matters touching upon "perceptions of morality." .The Court proceeded to dismiss the plea. The Chief Justice before dismissing the plea, orally suggested that the petitioner should consider taking up more pressing social issues. ."There are many other things, look after girl child education, how we can stop bride burning ... don't go into publicity things like this," he said.