PIL in Bombay High Court seeks to ban killer Blue Whale game on all online platforms
07 Sep. 08:17
Mumbai: Voicing concern over the rise in incidences of suicides due to the online ‘Blue Whale’ game, a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) has approached the Bombay High Court seeking directions to stop online availability of the killer game.
The NGO — Citizen Circle for Social Welfare and Education — has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a 24X7 helpline so that any incident pertaining to the fatal game can be informed to the police and timely action can be taken to save lives. In its petition, the NGO has said, "Children in India are falling in trap of dangerous and fatal games on account of their innocence and also because of their easy availability.
"Instead of focusing on their careers, the children are losing their lives at an early age by playing Blue Whale game. Nowadays, most children at an early age itself are found using mobile phones and thus, there is a great danger to the children of this era," the petitin reads.
Citing nearly 10 suicide incidents due to the game, the petition has sought a direction to scrutinise all online games available in India and verify whether they are lethal or not.
The NGO has also sought direction to Commissioner of Police, Mumbai and Google India, to take time-bound action to stop the availability such games, if found dangerous to the lives or limbs of the children. The PIL highlights the letter dated August 11 issued by the Union Ministry of Information and Technology, directing the competent authorities to immediately remove the links of the dangerous Blue Whale game.
Urging the HC to stop the availability of the game, the PIL states, "If no urgent steps are taken to block the online availability or circulation of this lethal game in Maharashtra in order to save the lives and limbs of the children as well as adults, in all realm of possibilities, there may be presently other children playing the game and may unfortunately, fall in its death trap." The PIL is likely to be heard by a division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Nitin Jamdar on Thursday.
Taking the legal route
In its petition, NGO - Citizen circle for social welfare & education - wants a 24×7 helpline to help victims.
The PIL
The fear
The NGO says children in India are falling in the trap of dangerous and fatal games on account of their innocence and also because of their easy availability.
The statistics
The petition says nearly 10 suicide incidents have been recorded in India due to the game and seeks to scrutinise all games available in the country.
Main highlight
PIL highlights the letter dated August 11 issued by the Union Ministry of Information & Technology, directing competent authorities to immediately remove links of the dangerous game. Urging the HC to stop availability of the game, the PIL states, "If no urgent steps are taken to block online availability or circulation of this lethal game in Maharashtra in order to save the lives and limbs of the children as well as adults, in all realm of possibilities, there may be presently other children playing the game and may fall in its death trap."
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