Chennai: The Madras High Court (Madurai Bench) has dismissed a public interest litigation petition seeking action against film and sport world celebrities such as actors Tamannaah Bhatia, Prakash Raj, Rana Dagubatti and Sudeep and former cricketers Virat Kohli and Saurav Ganguly for endorsing online games.

Last year another bench of the court had issued notices to these celebrities on a petition from one, Mohammed Razvi, who accused the actors of games that were detrimental to the people. The petitioner had contended that some people who lost money heavily in online rummy and such other games had even died by suicide.

However, on Tuesday a bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice M Duraiswamy felt that the petition was filed for the sake of publicity. The court observed that the petition was a “waste of time” and nothing but an attempt by the petitioner to gain publicity. The petition, the bench said, was fuelled by Rizvi’s “ambition to propel himself to stardom” by questioning advertisements involving celebrities.

The petitioner, however, was free to approach the appropriate authorities, which he deemed fit, to take steps to prohibit any online games, the judges said.

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